The Marionette
by Lady-Pyrien
Summary: She had the perfect life, a wonderful fiance, her dream job, great friends, but it all begins to change when she enters an old antique shop and lays eyes on the bloody haired marionette with cold chocolate eyes that haunt her dreams. T for cursing
1. Of Music Boxes and Crazy Old Women

**The Marionette**

Chapter one: Of music boxes and Crazy old women

For Sakura Haruno, life couldn't be more perfect. Spring had finally come in and warm breezes danced through her hair. She felt the slight chill occasionally, but it always came with the sweet smell of freshly bloomed flowers. The clouds were bright and fluffy, with barely a dark spot with them, not that the bubble gum haired girls minded April storms. Each time a storm would roll in, she would curl up beside a window and read or just watch the cascade of rain water flow down the glass.

If the weather wasn't enough to lift the young girl's spirits, it was surely the job she looked forward to everyday. She worked at the most prestigious hospital in all of Konoha. The lead doctor was her mentor from an early age in the arts of medical care. She was in charge of the children's wing most of the week, but she also helped in physical therapy for all age groups. It was stressful at times and she did lose her temper when some people would purposefully irritate her for unknown reasons. On some occasions, she did have to undergo her own mental therapy…especially for terminally ill children. Rare occasions brought them under her care though.

At home, in her wonderful apartment, was everything she thought she would possibly need. A nice TV and her own garden on the balcony. She had a nice little kitchenette because despite her wonderful medical knowledge, she was a terrible cook and never needed the extra space most kitchens had. Her room was decorated in a deep blue paint with cherry trees permanently imprinted into it.

As for love, well she had the perfect fiancé. He had a cool exterior and calm demeanor, but was a softy to her when she really needed it. The man was there for her in an instant. On top of that, he also was the current VP of the Uchiha Enterprises, his older brother being the current owner. Sasuke was a wonderful provider and had popped the question to her in the most romantic of ways.

They sat alongside a row of cherry trees. It was night, but the whole park was lit up beneath a starry sky. There was an annual Spring Festival in Konoha, to celebrate new life and new beginnings. Sakura was dressed in a lovely red and pink yukata, with a black obi. Sasuke was wearing his family's traditional Uchiha silky blue haori and matching hakama. The white jacket over it had the Uchiha fan emblazoned in the back. She loved that symbol, and felt giddy just thinking of wearing it one day.

There were many people at that festival, but none were more entrancing as the Uchiha beside her. He smiled coolly and pointed to the sky just as they were about to start the fireworks. A woman's voice came over the sound system and she announced a request from a lovesick fool to his Cherry Blossom Princess. Sakura gasped as her and Sasuke's song started to play. Tears ran down her cheeks as he offered to dance. A short time later he grinned and pointed once again to the sky.

Bright streaks began to shoot across the sky and ended in brighter explosions. Each one spelled out a new word. Her breath hitched as she read them to herself. She didn't notice all eyes were on her and her beloved. 'Sakura, marry me? Sasuke'. It was her dream come true and she immediately turned to him, only to find him on his knee holding the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Tears flowed freely down the emerald eyed girl's face and she nodded, not trusting her words. Sasuke grinned and slipped the diamond on her hand and stood to kiss her.

Sakura blushed intensely every time she looked down at her left hand.

It had been almost a year since then, but the memories were still fresh, and with the wedding coming up sooner than she realized, she was left to finish preparing for the celebration with her best friend, yet rival, Ino Yamanaka. The blue eyed blonde glanced at the lovesick girl walking beside her, "Oh, Sakura, it seems like yesterday we were sitting on the playground arguing about who was wearing the white dress when this day came…"

Sakura giggled, "Yeah, we were silly then…" she remembered the flower obsessed girl would threaten with deadly flowers and such, just to get her way. The feuds ended in community college, when Ino found herself watching Sasuke fall for her old best friend.

"Don't get me wrong, Forehead, I'm happy for you, but I would have stolen his heart if you hadn't worn your mother's old dress to that party," she smiled, "It may have been old, but I'll be damned if it wasn't absolutely perfect for that masque ball themed dance…"

The affianced girl nodded and remembered the night she and Sasuke had shared their first dance and kiss. She had worn a dress that was sort of like a family heirloom. It was styled the same, but due the generations of possession and use, it was constantly being mended and re-fabric-ed. It was a floor length cherry pink gown with white trim and red blossoms embroidered into the bottom. There was a red mask that went with it, and while it didn't match the gown perfectly, it made one wonder where such and object had some from to be paired with a beautiful dress.

"Yeah, I had to have that dress placed in a special place because it was so old, I was sure it was going to fall apart on me!" Sakura laughed. Ino smiled and noticed a small antique shop. Her eyes widened and a devious smile came across her face.

"Some thing old?" She motioned towards the ominous building. Sakura stared at it warily, but Ino was pulling at her hand kind of hard, so she gave in.

"You sure about this?" Sakura mumbled, "I was thinking I could just, you know, wear my mom's old cherry blossom necklace…"

She received a rolled eyes 'remark' from Ino. She blonde turned, "You said yourself those things were falling apart anyways, so maybe you can get a pretty 'new' antique to wear, or something," the girl danced inside and started her typical 'oh' and 'ah' at the many things she saw.

Sakura hadn't thought the girl to be so into antiques, but the smiled softly at old baby dolls from who knows when. The soft cherry haired girl sighed and began her own search alongside the shelves of dusty knickknacks and boxes. Some things were beautiful, like a porcelain box. The main color was white, but there was a scene of a Japanese setting. It had huge towering pagoda buildings and a small blue stream with a red bridge across it. Koi danced along the edges and cherry trees covered the side. Petals from said tree danced along the entire scene.

The young woman smiled, "Maybe I'll get that for fun…" She set the box down and looked at more of the decorated pots and things. One other porcelain box caught her attention. The scene was a bit more gruesome than the last. The buildings were darker, and instead of blue, there was a river of red. The sky was crimson and there stood a man in white with deep red hair. He was strung up in a 'puppet' like fashion. The cherry tree was bare except for one small blossom that clung the branches, like it was the only ray of light for the single figure.

Sakura felt dawn to the scene, mostly because it was in deep contrast to the other boxes around her. As she touched it the lid fell from its spot and the same figure from the décor popped up and began swaying to a light haunting melody that crept from the old box. She smiled at the dancing figure, it was dancing to song she thought she knew. It was eerie. The girl had no idea where it had come from, but she knew the song, but didn't know how. She brushed it off and closed the box to stop the music. It was giving her a headache.

Sakura ventured further into the small shop and saw many of the items Ino had looked at. She smiled at a cute little doll with a silk dress and horse hair braided down her back. It was adorable, but Sakura set it down and continued looking. The blonde haired woman was already at the front looking at the bodily decorations and jewelry.

After a few more items, the girl began to grow restless. It wasn't like her, but something about the shop was giving her the creeps. She felt as though she were being watched. She finally got the nerve to turn to the supposed area where the supposed 'person' was supposedly watching her.

A shiver ran down her spine when she saw it wasn't a person, but a whole wall of puppets and marionettes. Each was different, some more human like than others, some were downright creepy, with a third eye, or looked like some monstrous creature from the dark side of the fairy tale woods.

Despite her original rise of fear, she began to walk towards them. The craftsmanship on them was simply amazing. Each had its own personality. One was tall with dark black hair cascading wildly around 'his' head. He wore a dark shawl with a furry tan lining at the top. 'His' eyes were a deep yellow and in an almond shape. Deep lines marked where this puppet would have opened his mouth. She smiled at its life like looks.

The next one frightened her a little bit. It had three eyes in a pyramid fashion. Its body was weirdly shaped and four arms stuck out below its dark shawl. A messy mop of hair sat upon its head. She stepped back and felt something press into her back. The girl jumped and turned to be face to face with a couple. The woman stood with a sad expression on her face and she had a cascade of chocolate hair. Her partner was a taller man with dark red hair. He, too, wore a sad face. Their eyes were sad, but had a loving gleam to them. Who ever had made them was truly a master.

The final one she looked at was a small scale marionette. He sat limply on his stand with his little head tilted to the side. Flaming crimson hair spiraled in every direction and his eyes were a deep chocolate color. He had a vacant smile, almost like it wasn't there. His eyes were hung in a bored kind of expression and he wore a crimson cloak, torn at the edges and a hood drawn up over part of his head. One of his arms laid gently to the side, as if he was offering his hand t someone unknown. The other held a small sword.

Sakura's eyes widened at how real the weapon looked. She reached forward to touch it, but yelped in pain as the small blade pricked her finger. Crimson blood beaded at the tip of her finger and she placed the digit in her mouth to clean away the liquid. Deciding she had had enough fun looking around she turned to leave. Ino was standing at the counter like before, but something was off. There was an old woman like puppets hanging by some strings beside her. One that had not been there before. Her wrinkled face started at Sakura hard. Sakura began to step away carefully.

She felt fear grip her as the saw what looked like the puppet's fingers move. Suddenly, it jumped forwards and Sakura screamed. Ino rushed to her side, but all she heard was soft laughter and an old woman's cackling. She opened her green orbs to see the 'puppet' doubled over in laughter with Ino.

"I told you I would get her!" she woman gleamed with her smile, "I still got it in me!"

Ino gasped for air, "Oh, forehead," she gasped again, "You should've seen your face! It was priceless! You thought that Chiyo was actually a living puppet!"

Sakura's face lit up a deep shade of red, one that rivaled even that of the small marionette's hair. The elderly woman, known as Chiyo, helped Sakura up and offered the two girls some tea.

Ino accepted saying Sakura probably needed time to recuperate after her little 'episode'. The bubble gum blonde disagreed, but thanked the woman for her hospitality. Chiyo nodded, "Come back soon, okay?"

The girls agreed and began walking out of the shop. As they passed the first shelf Sakura heard the music box song drifting to her ears. She turned to see the little red headed figure gliding once more across his tiny porcelain box.

* * *

><p>Thank you for reading, please feel free to read and review, I would LOVE some feedback ^_^<p>

This story is loosely based on a true story I read about. It happened in Florida, but like I said loosely XD. I got this idea hours ago and had to write it down before I crawled into bed and was satisfied with myself. Thank You again ^_^

On another note, I don't usually write SasoriXSakura, but Sasori was the only one fitting enough XD and I thinking an alternate universe they could actually get along! Lol but I still prefer DeiSaku and SaiSaku lol

Your Tired Author, Lady Pyrien


	2. Of Dreams and a Spa Day

**The Marionette**

Chapter two: Of Dreams and a Spa Day

_Music, eerie music, like that of a small music box given to a child, played distantly in the background. She felt cold as ice staring into a mirror, but no one stared back, only a dark silhouette of what she thought was supposed to be her. She felt a light tug at her hair and turned to see a shadowed woman brushing her long silky hair. The girl was dressed in rags, clothes stitched together from possible hand-me-downs. Her eyes were worn and cold. _

_The maid then dropped the locks and left the young girl alone. She looked down at her lap and saw her hands. They were decked out in gorgeous jewels, but none stood out as brilliantly as the huge diamond ring on her left hand. To her, it weighed a ton. It was a symbol…but for what? She looked passed her hands and saw the elegant velvet skirt that was laid across her small delicate legs. Light pink white a white lace. She knew it was the only thing that filled her closet. Someone, but who is unknown to her, had told her that in order to appease her future husband she must be a doll in light happy colors. _

_It sickened her. She stood and felt a scream rise from her delicate throat. The mirror before her began to shatter. "Sakura!"_

Said Sakura opened her eyes and was staring at her vanity mirror. Her tired eyes stared back at her and behind her was a raven haired man she called a fiancé. His worried eyes stared at her as well. Sakura turned and gave him a wary smile.

Sasuke stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, "I've never seen you sleepwalk before…" He tightened his grip and Sakura melted into it. She laid her soft pink locks on his shoulder and closed her emerald eyes. She felt his hands rub her back.

"I think its nerves," Sakura offered, "The wedding is getting so close…" all she got in reply was a grunt. The girl knew that was his way of agreeing.

"Maybe you should take a few days off from work and relax, with the wedding a few weeks away, you'll need the extra hours of R&R," his cool voice washed over her like a cold ocean wave. It calmed her down. She felt another wave, one of exhaustion.

She sighed and felt trapped to the whim, "I'm tired, I think I'll just go to bed now," Sasuke nodded and thought nothing more of it and led her to the bed, where he laid down. His even breathing came soon after, telling the girl he was asleep. Despite her obvious sleepiness, she couldn't sleep. Her mind was racing with the images from her dream. The beautiful pink dress with the delicate jewels on her fingers were still burned in her memory.

When morning came, Sakura had one hell of a headache. She groaned and looked at the clock. Instead of red numbers telling her the time, she saw a yellow torn piece of paper with writing scrawled across it. The young woman rubbed the sleep from her eyes and grabbed the message. In he soon-to-be-husband's handwriting was a little note.

'Sakura, before you go berserk over the time, I already called you in sick. You should take today and spend it for yourself. Go to the spa with Ino or Hinata, but please just relax. Sasuke.'

Sakura sighed and figured she had no choice in the matter. So she did what any girl with a whole day off would do, "Ino," the cherry blossom haired girl mumbled into the phone, "you want to go to the spa? It's all on me…"

She closed her eyes and pushed the phone away from her head hearing the girl on the other end screaming about how that was a great idea. Once the eccentric blonde quieted down she told Sakura that she would invite Hinata and maybe TenTen.

After hanging up, the bride-to-be went to brush her hair and put on some simple relaxing clothes. Ino usually pestered her when she wore anything but the best, but Sakura simply liked her pink sweats and matching jackets with a white tank top best.

After slipping on her shoes she walked outside and smiled. The sky was blue and the clouds were puffy. The day was going to be perfect and Sakura just knew it.

She reached the café, where the girls usually met, and sat down to wait for the others. Time slowly passed, but soon enough Hinata arrived. Her dark raven-blue hair fell in waves down her back and a deep permanent blush was spread across her cheeks. She had unusual eyes, due to a birth defect, that only affected her family. They were pale lavender with an almost pearl center.

Like Sakura, Hinata was engaged to the mayor's son, Naruto. Unlike Sakura, she had been so for only a few months, after it seemed like the shy girl had been virtually stalking Naruto. They started dating one night after some gushy romantic tale of love.

Hinata had been walking home from her father's dojo, where she worked as an instructor for her family's famous 'gentle fist' technique. It was a cold rainy like night, and the girl was rushing home. She came across a scene that was hard to look away from. In an alleyway, she spotted Naruto being brutally beaten by a group of guys. Each man had many a piercing, and it was obvious they were gang related. Hinata couldn't bear to watch the boy she had loved for so long be hurt, so she jumped in front of the hurt boy and took a stand against the men. She managed to fend off a few, but their ring leader, a man with orange fire like hair, was too much.

The young Hyuuga gasped for air, but her determination was not to be trifled with. The man stepped forward and asked her why the trash was so important to her. Why she put her life on the line for someone like that, when she was clearly outmatched.

Hinata only grinned, "Because I love him…" it was then she pushed herself forward, only to be met with the man's knife. Blood poured down the girl's chin and she fell before Naruto. The blonde boy's rage had flared and he launched himself on the attacker, knocking him out long enough for him to rush Hinata to the hospital.

Sakura remembered that night, because she was working that night and had come across the room with the Hyuuga girl. The wounds should have been bad, but it was nothing to Hinata. There had been a small book in her coat pocket, some stupid little thing she had rented from the library. It had slowed the knife down just enough for the would to miss anything too vital.

The bubble gum blonde smiled thinking of how Naruto refused to leave her side the entire four days she had been unconscious, and when she awoke he wrapped his arms around her tightly and told her how he thought he had lost her. It was touching to watch. Hinata paid for the damages on the book, but insisted on keeping the little how to book.

The irony of the story: 'How to confess' was the title given to the book. Hinata believed it was fate, Sakura believed it was pure coincidence and a bit fairy tale.

Sakura looked up and greeted the Hyuuga girl. Hinata smiled back, "I thought you would be working this morning?"

"No," Sakura sighed, "Sasuke said I should probably take the next few days off…"

Hinata nodded, "I see," she sat down and looked over the menu, "How is Sasuke?" she shy woman muttered.

Green eyes stared off in another direction, "He's been normal, I guess," Sakura smiled, "Work picked up, so he's been busier than he usually is, but I think it had something to do with Sasuke trying to embarrass his brother at the last meeting,".

Hinata giggled, "Naruto said something about wanting to hang out with Sasuke sometime before the wedding, he said it won't be as fun if Sasuke was married…"

A vein on Sakura's forehead popped out and her lips twisted in an odd manner, "I don't even want to know what kind of fun…"

The Hyuuga heiress must've realized what a possibly was for she lit up like a tomato and started stuttering like crazy.

"What did you do to make the poor girl malfunction?" TenTen walked up. She had her hair twisted in her signature twin bun style. Her clothes were always traditional Chinese wear. Today it was a tan dress with darker tan knots and black pants beneath the dress, with matching slippers. She sat down and laughed at Hinata's face.

"She realized Naruto wants to take Sasuke out for some 'fun' before he gets married," Sakura explained.

TenTen laughed, "You make it seem dirtier than just strip clubs and what not…"

Sakura laughed, "Yeah…"

The tall woman beside Sakura was a known weapons collector. She had an OCD when it came to them, and she learned how to use each one. This months model was an old shinobi weapon called a kunai. Sakura knew the girl was deadly with each one after the month was up and also knew better than to mess with her.

Sakura had an inkling that TenTen had a 'secret' crush on Hinata's elder cousin, Neji. He was a tough and powerful Hyuuga, though when the girls were all younger, he would be the perfect model for their dress up fashion shows, with his hair being ultra long.

The last to show was Ino, who, as expected, greeted Sakura with, "Who dressed who? Is your power out?"

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch, "No, Ino-pig,"

The four girls sat and talked for a few moments before heading to the Konoha spa. The tall building spread out across one full block, but it was reasonable once inside. The first room was purely glass. The frosted glass desk sat in the center with two doors on either side. Both crystal and frosted potted plants were spread around room, though the plants themselves were real. A woman stood behind the desk and smiled, "Welcome to Konoha's Spa." she gestured for them to walk up to the desk to sign in.

She was a tall woman, with short and shaggy orange hair. Her eyes were dull, like she didn't want be there. She pushed forward a packet for them to choose what treatment they wanted.

Sakura was about to speak, but Ino pushed her out of the way and checked a bunch of boxes and pushed the paper back, "For all of us," she then pulled out her little purple pocket book and handed the woman a full payment.

"Don't worry forehead, it's not all mine, Hinata and TenTen chipped in," The pink haired girl was going to protest, but her friends just smiled, "What kind of bridal party would we be if we let you pamper _us_ before _her_ wedding?" Ino grinned.

The emerald eyed bride opened her mouth, but closed it and smiled softly, "Thanks you guys…"

The woman behind the desk handed them small plastic bands. The ones they received were deep red. Each band they had were different colors and sometimes mixed with words, to tell the spotters, life guards, and massage therapists exactly what the spa goers were wanting. Deep red was for the weights, pool, full body massage, sauna, and hot tub. Plus two choices of other therapeutic choices, such as mud bath, of manicures and pedicures.

Hinata instantly started them towards the weights and exercise equipment. The tall brunette girl among them, decided she wanted to do some running and mounted a treadmill. Ino smiled and dragged Sakura to the bikes. The Hyuuga girl didn't mess with the weights or running equipment, she went straight to a small padded area and began her gentle fist practice.

Sakura climbed the small stationary bike and sighed. Was this really all she needed, a day with the girl of nothing but stress relief? While it was true that she had never slept walked before, she was unusually stressed from a mixture of work and nerves.

When she was sure her legs were sore enough and she was too tired to go any longer, Ino had decided that the girls needed some swim time. Sakura groaned when she looked at the huge pool. It was filled with people swimming laps and doing water aerobics. The pink haired girl, honestly, didn't want to climb into the pool.

TenTen sighed, "Looks like swimming is out…" She looked over and grinned, "But not the hot tub!" the three other girls glanced over at the empty bubbling tub.

Ino squealed in delight and raced to the water and jumped in. The blonde immediately began yelping about the water's temperature. "Hot! Hot! Hot!" The Hyuuga girl giggled and slowly lowered herself into the steaming hot water. She tied her hair into a messy bun and leaned against the wall.

TenTen stepped in and began rubbing the water up her arms and relaxing. The last to settle in the water was Haruno. She closed her green orbs and leaned back, letting the hot soothing water take over her stress. The small bubbled tickled her sides gently, almost as if they were telling her she was going to be perfectly fine and that they were taking care of her problems.

She almost caught herself falling asleep, yet she still slipped into a deep, hot, soothing water induced sleep.

_The girl looked up into the cold, dark emeralds that were her mother's eyes. "You know better than to act up!" the woman shouted._

_She grabbed the girl's hands and dragged her to a dark room. The girl instantly felt chills run down her spine. She knew this place and knew it well. The girl was dropped on her knees in the center of the room, and was left behind by the mother. The woman disappeared into the blackness. _

_Curling up her fingers, the girl began to sob. She cried out words left unheard. What seemed like an eternity in the black room, passed. Steps were heard coming towards her. Fear rose in her throat and she bit her lip. Her mother had come back. _

"_Have you learned?" the girl choked out a sob and nodded pitifully. The woman grabbed her hand and began dragging her to the outside rooms. _

_Light painfully hit the girl's eyes. She was back in her room. A soft sigh of relief escaped the girl. Her mother's cold eyes darted to her, "You're lucky we're giving you to the Uchiha prince, otherwise you're fate would not be so happy…"_

_Uchiha? That's right, the young woman was engaged to the young prince of this land. She glanced at the gorgeous ring on her finger. There was a small fan underneath the diamond, showing brilliantly to the top. It was that royal symbol._

"_Sakura," her mother's voice was soft, "I know you're an odd child, but shattering the mirror with your favorite music box?" the tall woman picked up the small box with the cherry blossom trees and pretty river._

_The girl, now Sakura, stared blankly. She knew any words that came from her mouth would only further anger her mother. The woman was power hungry and ever since her husband, Sakura's father, had died, she was trying to push the pink haired girl off to some wealthy landowner or duke. What really amazed all was that the price, himself, wanted Sakura. "A perfect doll," he had said. _

_Sakura hated being called a doll. She had never sported any kind of bruise or cut. The young woman was supposed to be absolutely perfect. From her soft pink curls to her pale porcelain skin. Her hands were supposed to be soft and warm for her future husband. Everything was to be up to standard for her wedding. _

_The elder woman turned to her again, "Sakura…"_

"Sakura?" Ino's worried voice broke through her dream. She opened her eyes to see a huge window. Out side dark clouds had begun to congregate in the once blue sky.

"You suddenly jumped up and started walking towards the window…" Ino grabbed her shoulder. Sakura hissed at the cold touch. Her body was burning up. The blonde gasped, "Sakura! We need to get you home!"

The pinkette shook her head, "No, it's just the hot water…" Ino furrowed her brow, "If you say so…" Ino knew the girl had been out of the water longer and shouldn't be so warm.

TenTen pulled herself out of the water, "Let's just head to the sauna now…"

Hinata nodded in agreement, "I think it would be best," She grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her to the small steam filled room.

Sakura sat down and was immediately hit with a barrage of questions.

"What was that about!"

"Are you okay?"

"I didn't know you sleepwalked!"

"When did this start happening?"

"Should we go see a doctor?"

Sakura sighed, "Last night I did the same thing…" she began, "I was dreaming of a beautiful room, where I was this young girl. I was upset…my hand curled up where I was staring at a ring on my hand. There was a girl dressing me up and suddenly she left. I stood and screamed. The mirror in front of me, which was shadowed…it shattered and someone screamed my name." her friends listened intently, "I opened my eyes to see Sasuke standing behind me. He questioned me, about the episode."

Ino frowned, "You're too stressed…"

"That's why I'm here," Sakura groaned, "But I don't think it's working," she felt tears slide down her cheeks, or was it sweat? Sakura didn't know anymore what she was feeling. Her mind spun and she felt a dark spot in her heart. What was the feeling that was supposed to be there? Was it even a feeling? Or was it some mental sickness that she had idea she even had? Maybe she would go see a doctor.

She gasped feeling her friends surround her, she was caught in an embrace, "Sakura," Hinata started, "We're here for you…"

"Yeah, forehead," Ino grinned, "I'm your best friend, so you know I'll support you."

TenTen laughed, "You're a good person, I trust you even if you're crazy, but personally I think you're just nervous."

Sakura smiled, "I know, guys, I know."

The rest of the 15 minute sit in the sauna was spent talking about dates and jobs. Sakura was too distanced to even pay attention. Her dreams were too weird. She made a mental note to go see the doctor about them.

After the girls stepped out of the sauna, they dried off and redressed. Next would be the manicures and pedicures.

The room was a natural setting. Palm trees lining the walls with a mini waterfall in the center of the room. There was a man who directed the girls toward a rack with an array of nail polishes to choose. TenTen chose a dark green color, whereas Ino went for purple. Hinata squealed about all of her choices. She finally decided on a lavender than matched her eyes.

Sakura grabbed a small bottle. She looked at the name, pastel cherry blossom. Not only would this color match her wedding dress, but her name as well. What about this color was she attracted to? Ino smiled, "That would be pretty on you," Sakura stared at the bottle and shoved it back on the shelf. The girl instantly grabbed another bottle, not even bothering to see which one, or read its name.

Tears were blinding her as she stepped to the small desk. Why was life being cruel to her? She was depressed looking at her favorite color. Maybe she had finally cracked…

She closed her eyes as the woman before her massaged a honey and milk mixture into her hands. A cool feeling washed over her mind as she let go of everything. She felt a small smile grace her lips. Hot wax was spread onto her hands in a small bag and she watched as the liquid became more firm around her fingers. After a few minutes, the manicurists came back with hot towels to place over her forearms.

It caused a fuzzy feeling to take over the bride-to-be. The rest of the manicure went as such. Time came for the nail treatment. The tall woman clipped at her cuticles and filed the nails to a beautiful shape. She pulled the bottle Sakura had grabbed and began to drip a blood red color onto her nails.

The polish version of blood covered the small nails and filled Sakura with even more relief. It was a beautiful color.

Ino gasped, drawing Sakura from her calm state, "Sakura…that color is too dark for the wedding…it'll…all your decorations are pastel…"

Sakura smiled, "I like it though."

It was the end of that conversation as Sakura turned to the nails and smiled again. The pedicure went the same way, with Sakura left marveling at the blood red toes, "They remind me of my master's…" she thought about the head doctor at the hospital, Tsunade, also being the same woman who taught her.

The sky was partially clouded with grey rain clouds. Sakura felt the cool air on her skin. The flower shop owner started yowling about the humidity being hell for her hair. Hinata just smiled and told her about her new shampoo that would probably help her with that kind of problem.

Sakura tuned out again and felt the icy air bite at her. Last spring wasn't like this, nor was any spring before that. Rain in Konoha didn't usually show up until early summer. Spring was warm and beautiful and summer was humid and rainy then hot and dry, perfect for the summer festivities that took place.

The girls parted ways and it left the Haruno girl walking home on her own. Her thoughts filled with the dark dreams and red nails. She grinned softly and opened her door to her and her fiancé's apartment. Silence met her and she set her bag on the coffee table.

She danced happily to the kitchen and made herself some thing for lunch. The green-eyed girl hadn't even noticed the time and was quite surprised when the door opened and revealed Sasuke walking in. He closed his eyes and kicked off his shoes, "Sakura?" he walked up.

His cool eye slightly warmed up as a simple smirk twitched his lips. The raven haired man held out his hand and took her small delicate one in his. The Uchiha pulled her towards him and he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

She giggled softly as he pulled away, "Are you feeling better? I ran into Naruto who said you did go to the spa with Hinata."

Sakura nodded, "I had a nice day, but…" her eyes darted away, suddenly finding the floor more interesting. She could still feel his eyes burning her with their stare.

"What happened?" his voice was cold, but she could hear the underlying worry. That was so like Sasuke. He can't let his cold demeanor drop even when there is something obviously wrong with her. She grinned coldly herself.

"I fell asleep in the hot tub…I guess it happened again and I stopped and stopped in front of the window just staring…" she sighed softly, "Ino woke me, but it's not the act of walking it's the dreams that accompany them…" Sakura glanced up a tad irritated when Sasuke's phone went off and he shushed her to answer it.

The raven haired man just walked off and started talking about work to whomever was on the other line.

That was another thing. Sakura knew she was supposed to be getting used to this, now that the company was about to be transferred to him, but she couldn't help it. He just wasn't the Sasuke she had fallen in love with. He was terribly busy after work and was constantly growing further away from her.

Giving up on him coming back anytime soon, she walked to her room to grab her journal, the one she deliberately didn't write in. It was a Christmas gift from Ino, to write down her feelings. Sakura hated doing such things, but maybe she could get her stress out if she took one of her own advice. When patients would fret about upcoming events or were just having serious trouble going on daily, she let them in on a little secret. People who write non stop for about fifteen minutes a day, would have clearer consciences and leave them feeling better. It was good for the mind, but also the immune system.

With the brain having less to hold, it could work on maintaining the body. Even if the patients didn't believe it, they still tried it and did feel better. So, she would try it. Sakura opened the crisp book and looked at the empty lined paper. A small cherry blossom watermark was printed in the corner. The girl smiled softly and grabbed her pen. Once the tip hit the paper, she let her self flow into the paper. She hadn't noticed the time shooting by until she had looked up and gasped. The clock read 8:47 p.m. It was about an hour after she had started writing.

There were several pages filled with her tiny cursive. Sakura felt her eyes droop. They were sore from concentrating so hard on the paper. Her hand was also cramping up, so she felt it was time for a much needed dinner-type-meal. In the kitchen, Sasuke sat reading the paper. She was sure he had probably read it a few times over the course of the day, but he usually did this.

She walked to the cabinet and pulled out a can of soup. It would be quick and simple, she reasoned, then after wards she could try and get Sasuke to go watch a movie with her.

Haruno emptied the contents into a small pot and turned the heat up. Silence, thick and obvious, filled the kitchen and the pink haired girl would occasionally steal glances at her future husband. His raven hair hung like silk thread over his even darker eyes. A smirk was etched where his lips were as he probably read over the mini comics. A small 'secret' love of his.

She felt a swarm of butterflies rise in her belly when she looked at the way he would lick his lips when the smell of the soup would hit him. Sakura turned to see the soup bubbling wildly. She laughed to herself, for the soup reminded her of her good friend Naruto, and Sasuke was licking his lips.

She pulled it from the heat and turned the stove off and poured the now hot soup into a set of bowls. At the table she dipped a cracker into the creamy soup and began eating. Sasuke looked at her with his dark cold eyes, and only she could see the love and care in them. She blushed and turned away, "I'm sorry, it's not a big meal, but I'm just not in the mood to …try…and make something edible," she laughed nervously about her inability to cook, "But a few more lessons with Hinata and I'll be able to make home made breaded chicken and cheesy rice!"

Sasuke leaned over and pressed his lips to hers gently, "This meal is good as long as I'm sharing it with you…" Sakura gushed at one of his more rare romantic moments. They came far and few between, but she knew he meant them.

A newer, calm silence befell the two and she smiled softly and finished off her bowl. Now that her stomach was satisfied, she sauntered over to Sasuke and cuddled his face in a way she knew irritated him, "How about we go watch a movie or something!"

The Uchiha thought about it for a minute, "I guess we can, I have work off tomorrow…" She nodded. He usually had to be at work really early, meaning bedtime was early, too.

The couple sat down and turned on their television. Once they found a decent movie, some comedy romance, they settled against each other. The raven haired man had his arm secured around his little pink flower's shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulder in return.

His scent hit her in a wave of his cologne, which was mostly worn away, revealing his natural scent. She enjoyed the smell, it was like an amazing mixture of the ocean, but also pepper mint. The smell always lulled her into safety, where she remained through out the entire movie.

When the credits finally began to roll, and the laughter from the final jokes died, Sasuke took his beloved's hand in his and dragged her to the room. He took soft steps and led her to the bed, where she flopped into it tiredly.

The husband-to-be slipped under the blanket and pulled her close to him. He pressed his lips against her forehead and muttered a near silent goodnight, not expecting a reply from the already sleeping girl. Soon he followed her into the hazy blackness, that was sleep.

_The engagement party. It was a huge celebration for the lovely couple, one of which was the country's own prince. Sakura looked around the moment she entered the crowds. Her mother gripped her hand and dragged the young woman through a special hallway. _

_The girl started to feel a dark feeling rise in her chest. Usually when her mother dragged her anywhere, she was headed to the dark room. She began pulling against her mother's grip._

"_Don't worry my foolish child, I can't hurt you. Especially when we're not even in our own home," Her mother stated._

_Sakura nodded, but still didn't feel better. The hall winded to a small stair case. As they ascended, the girl could no longer hear the wonderful music coming from the ballroom. It worried her still. She didn't like the feeling she was experiencing as she continued to climb the steps. _

_The next hall way finally came into view and Sakura smiled softly. The carpet beneath her heels was plush and a deep blue color. There were matching drapes hanging all over the walls, each emblazoned with the royal Uchiha fan. Busts lined the walls as she passed them. One was of a man with long spiky hair. The plate below it read Madara Uchiha, founder of the land. The next few were also Uchihas. She noticed how not all of them were kings, like Madara, they had been guards for other countries as well as mercenaries for any nobles in the area. She had read about that era, when Madara, along with his distant cousin, Hashirama Senju. _

_They had fought over who would rule the empty land and their people. Madara had lost and disappeared, but apparently the Uchiha would one day rule the lands. Fugaku, the current king, had won power many years ago from the man before him. _

_At first, the people revolted, but since the man had no heir, there was no one of old blood to take the throne, so the kingdom quieted down and accepted fate. He had two boys, the eldest was currently captain or the royal guard, and the youngest was second in line for the throne and Sakura's future husband. _

_Speaking of, Itachi, the elder, was walking towards them. He had worn out eyes, but the beauty was still apparent. His long coal hair was tied up and he was wearing an elegant suit rather than his usual armor. She had never met the crowned prince in person, but as she walked up to him, all of her lessons on royal etiquette flew out the window. All of those practiced mannerisms were gone._

_The pink haired princess-to-be started panicking. Itachi smiled warmly and held out his hand. She regained composure and held hers out to his, where he took it and bowed, kissing the pale pink gloved hand. _

_She dipped low and smiled. He grinned, "Pleasure to make the acquaintance of my new sister," He turned to the girl's mother, "And it's no wonder the young lady is so beautiful, her mother is stunning," these sweet words caused the woman to blush furiously. _

_Itachi laughed, "Well, I must be off, just continue down this hall, and there is waiting room." he explained, "My parents are in there waiting for your arrival."_

_He bowed once more and walked down the hall and out of sight. Sakura felt her heart pounding in her chest. If that was the older brother, then what was the younger brother like? Was he just as sweet? If so, then Sakura smiled at how happy she was going to be._

_Just as Crowned Prince Itachi had said, the room was a grand waiting room, with gold chandeliers and dark blue tapestries. A long table was in the center and a tray of tea was laid out. Sitting on a beautiful couch was a dazzling raven haired woman with black eyes, but these eyes held much love and affection. She wore a floor length blue ball gown with the Uchiha crest on the back and sleeves. An Uchiha brooch was on her breast and her hair was tied up beneath a brilliant crown. _

_The man beside her had a colder demeanor. His face was hardened and his jaw length hair was decorated in his crown. His arms were crossed in front of his chest and he gave off a very angry look._

_The woman stood, "I'm Queen Mikoto and this is my husband, King Fugaku." she motioned to the man, "We're so delighted to finally meet you Lady Sakura," She embraced the young girl._

_Sakura smiled warmly and embraced her back. "It is a pleasure to meet you, too, your highness," Sakura whispered._

"_Oh, please, you'll be my daughter soon, call me mother!" Mikoto gushed. Sakura blushed at the formality between them._

"_Ok," she blushed again, "Mother…" _

_Mikoto once again sat, "Please join us for tea. The party down stairs can wait for now. I must get to know my future daughter!" _

_The mother and daughter sat down and sipped at their tea while Mikoto asked about education and what not. Sakura answered to the best of her ability, based on what her mother taught her to say. And when Sakura faltered, he mother was immediately there to correct her or answer for her. _

_Sakura began to feel like a doll again. A younger prettier version of her mother. It was something she hated more than anything. _

_Her thoughts began to rage, but her train of thought was interrupted by the man outside the room, the one with a booming voice. He was announcing his Lord and Lady. _

"_Well," Mikoto smiled, "We must be off, the party awaits! Be good and have fun tonight, Sasuke will be delighted to see his bride."_

_His highness stood and left with his wife on his arm. Many others were called, including her mother. She was standing alone in the huge room. Twisting her fingers nervously she paced the room. It was all she could do, not to run down the flight of stairs. Here she was sporting the ring of the boy she'd never met before._

_She didn't even know if he was nice, or even remotely handsome. Her anxiety grew with every passing name, knowing the second her name was called, she would be linking arms with the man who may one day rule the entire kingdom. _

"_And our beloved Prince Sasuke, and Lady Sakura," cheers erupted from the crowds. She felt her stomach twist in knots as she walked towards the small hallway that would lead to the stairs. She closed her eyes and bit her pink lips and passed through to the open hall. The delicate creature didn't open her eyes until she felt a hand wrap around hers. _

"_Sakura…" The smooth inky black eyes met hers the moment her emerald orbs opened. She gasped lightly._

"Sasuke…" She was staring into the eyes of her fiancé. Sakura began looking around and realized she was standing in the hallway. 'Oh no,' she thought, 'not again.'

* * *

><p>OK, here's chapter 2 of this story. I'm not good at holding stories out for very long, but I'm hoping for a few more chapters. i'm proud that i managed to make this one longer, but I really hope I didn't bore any one with the dragging dream scenes, but they are important and don't worry SasoSaku fans, it's coming up soon. Thank you for the wait.<p>

On another note, I'm going to be starting a tragedy for MinaKushi soon, another bug bit me and wants t be written. It will be short, probably a few chapters, but it'll be worth the read I garantee.

Please leave feedback, I'd like to know if my story is good to you guys, and I'm actually happy with this. It's a hugue improvement from my very first fanfic, The Necklace, by Sabaku-No-Kurai, which I'm wanting to re write.

Anyways, please review ^_^ And thank you to the few of you who did review.

Lady Pyrien


	3. Of Crimson Puppeteers and Oro's Advice

**The Marionette**

Chapter 3: Of Crimson Puppeteers and Dr. Oro's advice

Sasuke stayed up with the tired cherry blossom. She had refused sleep once she had awoken from another sleepwalking dream. She was shaking violently with tears streaming her cheeks, "Sasuke," she sobbed, "I'm so scared," the girl tightly wrapped her quilt around her.

Sasuke was surprised. Nothing ever seemed to shake the little cherry tree. She was always so strong and brave, but this was different. It seemed as thought the girl was breaking from the inside out. The raven haired Uchiha knew something was in those dreams that was psychological breaking her, "Sakura, how about we visit a psychiatrist and see if the stress is deeper than a spa will cure."

The pink haired girl nodded and felt hers tears drying up as he ran his fingers through her hair. Sakura felt a slight dizziness come over her as her fiancé lulled her to sleep. Her eyes grew heavy and soon fell. Soft breaths soon evened and Sasuke picked up his bride-to-be and laid her down in the bed.

Instead of sleeping himself, he stayed up and kept a close eye on her. Hours passed into the dawn and she still had not risen. She didn't even show signs of having another one of her frightening dreams. He was curious as to what went on in them, but she refused to tell him anymore. He was truly worried about her.

He picked up the phone as soon as he was sure the therapist would be open. It rang a few times and finally the secretary picked up, "Hello, this is the office of Dr. Oro," she young woman on the line sounded no older than he, and she also sounded quite irritable, "Are you looking to make an appointment with him?"

Sasuke sighed, "Yes, I am," He heard some tapping on a keyboard and then her voice came over the phone again, "We have an opening at noon," The Uchiha looked at the clock and saw that noon was still about three hours away and he nodded, "We'll take it."

She tapped away again, "And can I have your name?"

"Sasuke Uchiha, and the patient is Sakura Haruno," he muttered. She tapped.

"Ok, be sure to come in," her voice cut off after that when Sasuke hung up. He stood and walked back to the room where his lovely fiancé slept away. He knew she needed the uninterrupted sleep and let in go until about 11:30, when he finally woke her.

Her emerald eyes fluttered open and she smiled softly, "Hi baby…" she whispered.

He grinned back and told her to get dressed, she did just that as he went to the kitchen to get her some thing quick to eat. On the way out the door, she quickly munched the small granola bar.

Silence filled the car as they drove to the therapist's office. Sakura began to feel more and more saddened, one, by her dream and sleep walking episode, and two was the fact she was now feeling like Sasuke thought she was mentally unstable. She knew she wasn't, but would he believe her if this so called doctor told her she was fine?

The two pulled into the practically empty lot and parked. Sakura slowly pushed herself out of the car and walked up to the building with Sasuke right behind her. He squeezed her hang gently. He also gave her a reassuring smile.

The doors opened to reveal a small waiting room with a woman sitting behind a glass sliding window. She had long red hair that was spiky along the side. And small glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose. She glanced up and her eyes widened and she blush spread across her cheeks.

He could already see it now, she was going to go wild and flirt with him, despite his soon-to-be wife right beside him. She was just that type, he could see it.

The girl, who's tag read Karin, smiled coyly at him, "The doctor is ready for _her_," she grinned. Sasuke could here the irritability in her voice when she spoke of Sakura.

Sakura looked at her fiancé who smiled and was about to walk inside with her, but they were stopped, "I'm afraid she has to go alone," Karin giggled, "You'll have to stay here with me," she winked. Sakura hadn't caught the tone, but her sure did.

He looked down at the smaller girl in his arms and smiled softly, "Go ahead, I'll be right here if you need me, just call for me," he kissed her softly. Sakura smiled warily, but walked into the next room by herself.

The raven haired Uchiha growled lightly having to be stuck in the small waiting room with the girl who was obviously enamored with him. He watched the girl saunter to the door leading into the waiting room. Karin opened it and slipped over to him and sat down in the chair beside the one he had placed himself.

"So you're Sasuke, huh?" she giggled, "I'm Karin, nice to meet you!" she held out her hand, but instead of a warm welcome, she was coldly glared at.

If there was one thing Uchiha's were good at more than anything it was cold glares made of pure ice. Most people knew better than to cross an Uchiha when he was smiling, but when the famous stare crossed their face, you were doomed.

The look did nothing to deter the girl from moving closer, "You are so cute," she grinned. Sasuke growled lightly and stood up to stand by the door keeping him apart from his wife-to-be.

Sakura was having much less luck. The door led to a short hallway at which was a door. The door had golden snake decoration along the edges. She felt uneasiness come over her and was just about to turn back and go get Sasuke, so they could go home, but a snakelike voice hissed behind her, "You must be Sakura," the owner of the voice was a tall man with long black silky hair and pale skin. He wore a tan coat with a black turtle neck shirt and a purple belt. he had a pair of khaki slacks on.

She bit her lips and nodded, "Come this way then," he pointed towards his door. She followed obediently and stepped with him into the office. It was I nice office with snake decorations and even had a small aquarium with what she was sure was a ball python bathing in the heating lamp.

Sakura smiled lightly. Sasuke loved snakes and so she thought of him when she saw the snake. It took some of the uneasiness away. As she sat down on a small cushy couch, the therapist walked to a small refrigerator, "Would you like a water or soda?" Sakura nodded, "Water, please."

He handed her a small bottle of water, "So what brings you here today?" Sakura could tell this man was wanting to pry into the deep recesses of her mind, "Actually, I'm not quite comfortable sharing…why don't you tell me a bit about you first…"

Dr. Oro smirked, "Very well, My name is Orochimaru, I would have rather been something of a scientist and whatnot, but I found that the human psyche is much more interesting when it comes to dark secrets and things," he grinned, "I do, however have a weekend job. One that lets me have my way with my experiments and things." Sakura swallowed at the way he said the last few words.

"I'm 53 years old," she gasped, he looked rather young for his age, but so did her medical teacher, "I love snake, such darlings." he grinned, "Now please, tell me why you're here." his golden eyes bore into hers.

Sakura closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts, "Well, I've been having trouble sleeping,"

"Oh? That all?"

"Well, no…" she mumbled, "I've also started sleep walking and having these really weird dreams, ones where it's me, but it's not me…"

Orochimaru raised his eyebrow, "When did this start?"

She thought back to about two or three days ago, "A few nights ago…"

"And are you having trouble in a relationship, a friendship or lover's quarrel perhaps?"

Sakura bit her lip, he was unlike any therapist or psych doctor she had ever met. He was a curious and prying being. "No, in fact nothing could be better… You see, I'm getting married soon and-"

"Ah I see," he grinned, "So you're getting married? I have a lot of brides and grooms coming in here wondering about sleep trouble, your case is nothing more than that of stress," he smiled.

"I figured that," she muttered, "but I can't seem to find anything relaxing enough to de-stress me. I took a leave from work and even spent the day with friends at a spa getting all pampered and stuff," she turned away from his cold amber eyes.

"Tell me about these dreams," Orochimaru leaned back against his leather chair.

"Well, I'm me, like I said, but I'm like a princess or something," she started, "I have a mother who seems to hate me, but she marrying me off to some prince. In my last dream I was going to a ball to celebrate the engagement. Me and my apparent mother arrive there and I feel fear being alone with her. She takes me to a room with two people, who are going to be my new mother and father-in laws. The me in the dream doesn't know them, but they were my fiancé's parents. I also met his brother in the dream. I go to meet my fiancé in the dream, and it was Sasuke, my in life fiancé." she looked up at him.

He nodded, "I truly think the whole thing is based on nerves, "I can tell from your young appearance hat this has to be your first marriage?"

She nodded, "Yes…"

Orochimaru grinned, "Just rest as much as possible, do some stress relieving activities, such as drawing, art, reading writing, whatever it is that you use as an escape. As for the sleep walking, I suggest that if the stress relieving doesn't help, tie bells around your wrists so your fiancé knows when you get up out of bed. It will also help find you if you wander away to far.

"I also suggest you start thinking about what could be triggering this sudden sleep problems," he smiled, "And please do come see me again if this problem remains after you have already been married."

Sakura nodded, "Thank you, sir," she whispered softly. She walked down the hall and opened the door. Sasuke was right there waiting for her and that made her happy.

"Well?" he looked into her eyes as he paid Karin for the session and walked to the parking lot with Sakura.

She told him about the advice and he nodded, "I think I can find some bells to tie to you," he smiled his rare soft smile, "Want to go home or would you like to go out and do something?"

Sakura thought about it, "Actually, I would like to try another source to see what's wrong with me…this all started after I visited that antique shop, I know it sounds crazy, but maybe I picked up a demon or something, you know like the Ouija boards…" she muttered.

Sasuke wasn't one to believe in things like that, but he figured it would give his love some security, "Ok, where is it?"

Sakura walked in and everything seemed the same. She noticed the music boxes were still there as were the huge collection of dolls and things. Cobwebs covered a lot of things like the last time, but something seemed off. She noticed the old woman wasn't hiding this time and was actually sitting behind the counter playing with an old puppet's arm. She seemed to be cleaning it up. The old woman's eye locked with Sakura's and she grinned, "I remember you," she put away her craft and stood, "Come back for something?"

Sakura shook her head, "No, I was wondering about a problem I've been having…I thought, as crazy as it seems, I might have been jinxed or something like that…"

"I see, come this way child, I know exactly who you can see for something like that," Sakura looked at Sasuke, who shrugged. So, Sakura sighed and followed the old woman into the back room. There was a woman who was sitting on a bunch of pillows. She had golden brown hair and deep grey eyes.

"She is one of the women who delivers most of these nifty things to my shop, and she had a connections with spirits and whatnot, so she may be able to help who with whatever problem you've got." the old woman then went on to tell her that she was also rather dramatic, so they were to beware of that.

The rosette sat down in front of the woman who only smile softly, like a Mona Lisa type smile, "Hand," she grabbed the soft delicate hands of the younger girl and began to press spots. She ran her fingers down each of the girl's digits and stopped on her pointer. She started laughing.

Sakura bit her lip, "What?" she said, her voice cracked.

"It is only the entrance spot," she saw the girl's confused look, "You were cursed with ancient magic, magic not seen for a very long time. This is where the curse was placed," she touched Sakura's index again.

"Curse..?" she girl squeaked, "So how do I become un-cursed…?" Sakura felt hot tears fill her eyes, making it hard to see the spirit woman before her.

"As I said it is ancient magic, and cannot be undone…"

"Who cursed her? Why? What exactly does it do?" Sasuke growled angrily.

"I do not know who, but I can tell you this energy had been floating in this realm for many a millennia. I also do not know why. It could be any number of reasons. She may be a bad person getting karma or a reincarnation of a jilted lover, who knows, but I can tell you that she is cursed to walk forever in her sleep, until the curse either runs its course or is broken. You cannot stop it," the woman stood and smiled, and laughed again, "This is a brilliant curse!"

Sasuke growled again and yanked his fiancé up and dragged her out of the door. She could tell her was angry at what the woman had said pissed him off. The girl rubbed her eyes of tears and walked with Sasuke through the antique shop where she gasped seeing a bloody haired marionette staring in her direction as they walked out.

On the way home Sasuke was silent and steaming. He wouldn't look at Sakura, nor would he say anything. He lightly sped down the streets until they finally arrived at their apartment. Sakura slowly made herself climb out of the car where she was suddenly attacked by Sasuke. He pulled her into a tight hug, "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I wish I could help you, don't let what that crazy woman said, I know it's not true, so you shouldn't believe it either!" he looked at her and smiled, "I'm just so angry that she would put such thoughts into your head!" he ranted as they walked into the dark apartment.

Sakura smiled and walked to the kitchen, "Don't worry Sasuke, It was scary being told that your doomed, but I know it can't be real…The old woman said she was a bit theatrical." the girl put on some tea to boil, "Besides I'm not that silly,"

On the inside Sakura was twisting and feeling angry. Despite it being gone, that was the finger she had cut on the small marionette's blade. Not only that, she hadn't told either of the woman what the problem had been.

Silence filled the small apartment after they had tea. Sasuke said he had a few things to do, including finding a set of bells, from Christmas, and some pink ribbon to tie around her wrists. She felt like a dog now, being made to wear bells, so she wouldn't get in trouble.

She decided to write in the small journal again, telling the paper made friend about her dreams and what the spirit woman had told her. Another hour passed and she once again got up to make something small and easy for dinner. Sasuke tried to talk to her but she couldn't hold the conversation so he went silent as well.

Sakura knew he could tell something was wrong with her, but she wouldn't talk. He felt useless and he hated feeling that way. He watched as she pushed the once frozen meal around her plate. He also noticed it was getting late, "Time for bed, Sakura…"

She nodded and followed him to the room they shared. The girl curled under the blanket and waited for Sasuke to sleep. He laid down in the bed and whispered a goodnight along with a kiss on the cheek. Soon after his breathing became even, meaning he was of course asleep.

Shutting her eyes tightly she began to sob dryly. Why did this have to happen to her? Was it really karma caching up for something that happened along time ago? `

She felt a wave of sleepiness hit her and she groaned, "I can't," she whispered, not wanting to go back to that dream world that only proved she was becoming mentally unstable, and it was most likely due to a curse someone laid upon her.

_Black eyes stared deeply into hers as they linked arms. She bit her lip at how handsome this man was. He was her future husband? She blushed at the thought of him being married to her. _

_They descended the stairs and were met with loud cheers and some cries from maidens all around that wished they were her. Sakura felt lucky and happy. She shared a wonderful dance with him. The music drifted around her and she felt like she was in heaven. They silently talked to each other about things like parents and learning. Even the future that was almost inevitable. _

_When the song came to an end, many men flocked to her to take a turn with her. She spent the better half of three hours dancing around with men she didn't even know, but it was fun getting to meet the young son of the king in a land that was friends with this one. His name was Naruto add he was to be married to a young princess of a small land further away than this one. He was hyper but incredibly nice. Then there were a few others who were not that good of company, like the duke's son, Sai. He called her ugly and then stopped half way through the dance, claiming he could find a better dance partner. _

_Now that she was left without a dancing partner and with swollen feet, she made her way to a wing marked for the younger children. She loved kids and their sweet innocent faces and she hope Sasuke did too. The hall was decorated in pastel colors and a few old toy were strewn about the walking area. _

_She came across an open nursery room where a bunch of children were sitting in a huge pile watching a small puppet show. There was a knight and a fair maiden and a dragon with magic flight and fire breath. _

_Sakura scooted to a small wooden chair made for children and sat down to watch the knight fight the dragon. The kids began cheering for the knight and yelling when the knight was injured. The knight stood and yelled out, in a beautiful silk voice, "She is mine, I will not let harm come unto her as long as I love her. And that will be forever!" Sakura giggled at how cheesy it was, but it was cute. _

_The maiden screeched in an obvious high pitched male voice, "Oh my knight, un. You have to defeat him!" _

_He complied and fought valiantly and when he had finally slain the dragon, he and the princess took a bow. The children jumped up and began cheering and clapping. Some got up and rushed around the small box stage. _

_Sakura clapped and smiled softly, and then she saw the two men who had been controlling the small puppets. One was tall with long blonde hair tied up at the top of his head. His eyes were a brilliant blue, well the one you could see was. The other was underneath a bunch of the blonde silk. _

_The other was a man with chocolate eyes and crimson red hair. His skin was pale and soft looking. He was like a bloody haired angel. _

"_Why do I always have to be the maiden, un?" he groaned talking the hand sewn hand puppet off his hand, and gave it to a little brunette girl to play with. _

"_Because you look like a girl," the other replied, smirking, "That and I'm better with puppets than you and she has maybe, two or three lines at most, besides 'help!', and that doesn't count," he grinned at the now fuming blonde. _

_Said blonde looked up and spotted Sakura, spreading a blush to her cheeks, "He Sasori no Danna, who is that?" he pointed towards the pink clad princess-to-be, "Hey, un, aren't you too old to be here?"_

_Sakura stood and bowed lightly, "I'm sorry, I was just on my way…and then…I don't know…the puppet show…" the one called Sasori smacked the blonde upside the head, "Deidara, have you no manners? She's obviously a guest of the royal family…" he walked forward and bowed lightly, "Hello, my lady," he held out his hand to grab hers. When she let him have it he kissed it gently, never taking his warm chocolate eyes from her emerald ones, "I'm Sasori, and this is my partner, in both my shop and helping entertain the children," he heard the blonde grumble, "Deidara."_

_Sakura smiled softly, "I'm Sakura," she smiled. Deidara laughed, "Well, not only is she a beautiful young lady coming to see our show, un, but she's also the prince's bride-to-be!" _

_Sasori smiled, "Well, I'm honored then," he let go of her hand. She felt instantly cold and alone, even though she was surrounded by little girls who 'ooed' and 'ahed' at her dress. _

_The crimson puppet master walked over to a small table, "Would you like to see my art?"_

_Deidara started laughing, "That's not art, un!" he crossed his arms, "Art is an explosion!" _

_He received a glare from the red head, "Art is a beauty that lasts forever, you just don't understand." _

_Sakura giggled softly walking over to where Sasori had pulled out a small case. Inside were a multitude of little marionettes used for his shows. She saw kings and queens. There were traders and children. Sakura reached out, but pulled away._

_Sasori laughed, "It's ok, They will last forever," he picked up a small wooden cross with strings and out of the case popped the king. He danced and spun and did all kinds of things Sakura didn't think possible with a little puppet. She giggled and clapped her hands together in delight. _

_The puppeteer handed the little cross to her, "You try," she nodded and made the king jiggle, but she just couldn't figure out how to make him dance the way Sasori had. Deidara walked up, "I'm going to take these little brats back into the big playroom, un," Sasori nodded and his friend left._

"_Here," he placed his hand over hers, "My secret it to become one with the puppet and\," he helped her make him dance. _

"_I did it!" she squealed happily. He smiled. Akasuna no Sasori, was not a usually nice person. He hated people because they lied, cheated, killed. They hurt others with out even caring, but only a handful were not. Deidara was loud and quick to blow things up, but he had never given Sasori a reason to hate him like he did other people._

_Children were also such. They had never done anything wrong in their life. They were all so innocent, untouched by death and war. They also had a true love for his art. Most adults thought he was weird for 'playing with dolls' as they put it, but he knew he was the smart one. Puppets were much more than toys, they could also be used as weapons. He even had a few._

_Sasori also dabbled in the art of magic, which was a dying art. Something most people didn't care for anymore, now that healing could be done through an apothecary or doctor. _

_Sakura looked up at the thoughtful eyes of the man before her and grinned, "They are so fun!"_

_He smiled softly, "You're the first one to say something like that…" he whispered, laying the marionette back in its case. The pink haired girl smiled and walked around the room, "Why are you here? I mean, with all those kids, surely they would've chosen a woman to watch kids…"_

_Sasori laughed, "I needed a little extra money, I love children, and Price Itachi is one of Deidara and my friends, we all used to play together when my grandmother worked here as Itachi's nurse maid," he explained._

_Sakura smiled. She continued walking around the room looking at little drawings on the walls, most likely from Itachi and Sasuke when they were younger. She was actually enjoying herself when a man walked into the room with a worried expression and let out a sigh of relief, "Thank the heavens we found her, thank you Sasori, she slipped away and the prince has been looking everywhere!" _

_The man was tall and nothing was amiss about him. He was normal. Something Sakura decided she didn't like anymore. _

"_Well, bye bye Sasori," she muttered as the guard escorted her from the room and back to Sasuke. She let her mind race about chocolate eyes that had melted into her and wouldn't let go. He was so nice to her, but not in the same way all those men she had danced with treated her. They acted like she was a delicate wallflower that would break if dropped, but she wasn't. They also held fear that if she were to complain about them, Sasuke would probably have them executed or something like that._

_Sakura looked up and saw her mother standing beside Sasuke. He smiled softly whereas her mother gave her a look of pure anger. Sakura's heart dropped. Her mother was going to punish her, she just knew it. _

"_My lovely cherry blossom, wherever did you run off too?" a cool voice spoke. She looked into the cold black eyes of her future husband and bowed in apology, "I'm sorry, I got tired after being abandoned by my dancing partner and stumbled across a nursery that was having a cute little puppet show," she smiled. _

_The price grabbed her hand, "That is alright, you're safe now and that's all that matters…"_

_But was she ever really in danger? Would Sasori turn out to be the kind of guy that would hurt her? She shook her head and put on a smile, "I was in good hands, Sasori helped me when I got lost," her emerald eyes shone brightly._

_Sasuke smiled and led her away with the rest of his entourage. The rest of the night went beautifully. She danced with Sasuke for the most part, talked with the girls who would become her ladies in waiting. The first was Ino, a blonde with a fiery attitude and a passion for flowers. The second was TenTen, another girl supposed to be there to keep Sakura company, but she explained she was also there to protect her if anything were to get past her main guards, who would be assigned by Itachi himself. _

_The carriage ride home was silent. Her mother didn't speak a word, and Sakura relished in the many people she met that night. The crimson haired puppeteer's smile made her squirm and giggle to herself, and then when she thought about Sasuke and his smooth features she squealed silently, how did a girl get so lucky to know so many cute men?_

_Their small house was quiet when they entered, except for the one maid dusting the living room. The woman bowed to them and bid them good night as she left for her own home. _

_Sakura ran up to her room, happy for the first time in a long time. She stripped herself of her pink layers and pulled on her nightgown. She slipped into bed and fell fast asleep, with warm, heart melting chocolate eyes being the basis of most of her dreams._

_When she awoke, the first thing she noticed was a petal pink gown already laid out. It was no ball gown, just something she would usually wear to a gathering for tea, or maybe to the market. On it was a card that read, 'Dress yourself quickly and meet me downstairs, Itachi wants you to meet the men he has assigned to keep you safe before and after the wedding, Mother'._

_Sakura sighed and quickly put on the dress and fixed her hair and makeup. The petal pink doll slipped on her shoes and made her way downstairs. In the kitchen, where her mother was waiting, breakfast had been prepared. The Haruno daughter seated herself and ate what little food she was given. _

_Another hour passed before the sound of horse shoes clopping against the cobblestone street outside was heard by Sakura and her mother. The pink haired girl peeked out the window and gasped. Climbing out of the carriage was a bunch of men that looked quite scary. Itachi was among them, along with a man who had tanned skin but green eyes. He was held together by stitches it seemed, or maybe they were inked body markings. Those were only used by the roaming magic users these days._

_Another was a tall, tall man. He had blue skin, another oddity she had never seen. And his hair was just a darker shade. He reminded her of a fish or maybe something out of the magic tales she'd read before._

_There was a semi-normal man, with silver haired slicked back against his head, but a blush spread across her cheeks as she noticed his shirt was hanging open, with a silver medallion bouncing against it. His eye were a beautiful wine color. _

_The last two made her giddy inside. She knew them both from the previous night. They were none other than Deidara and Sasori. _

_The maid answered the door and greeted the crowned prince and let him in, "My liege," she offered tea, as she was told to do, but Itachi turned it down. He walked into the den where Sakura and her mother were sitting. The elder Haruno woman stood. _

"_Ah, your majesty," her voice poured out like velvet, "Please, you and your friends sit and make yourselves comfortable."_

_Sakura smiled when Itachi sat beside her, "Hello my new little sister," he grinned and kissed her hand. _

_She giggled and nodded her head, "Itachi, sir,"_

"_No, please just Itachi, I'm your brother now," he motioned to the group, "And these are my most trusted knights, in a manner of speaking," he laughed, "They aren't part of my army, so aren't really knights, nor can they become them, but they have proven to be the best. I believe Sasori and Deidara have already been acquainted with the young Princess, but I don't think you've had the honor of meeting Kakuzu," he pointed to the tall tan man with long shaggy brown hair, "Kisame," the blue man, "And Hidan," the man with silver hair._

"_They are each skilled with magic, as I am," Sakura gasped, she had never met someone who used magic before, "Each of us will take turns keeping you safe. We will be split into pairs and follow you wherever you go," he explained, as if he was making sure she understood._

_She nodded, feeling like the brother, who she thought was to be really nice, was now just treating her like a child, like a doll._

"_Hidan and Kakuzu have first watch, so The rest of us will be off now," he stood and left with the others. Sakura felt sad. She had hoped to get to know her new brother, but it was probably not going to be easy for him to sit around and idly chat, while he had a kingdom to protect. _

_She looked up with wide green eyes at the two who were left, "So…" the girl began._

"_That's just fucking like him!" the silver haired man yelled, "Always leaving us to do his fucking dirty work. One day Jashin is going to rip him a new asshole!" _

_Sakura's face was beet red, "Uh…"_

_Kakuzu sat down, "Ignore him…he can't be stopped and he has a mouth like a sailor…" _

_Sakura's mother was already fuming and yelling at the man for 'corrupting her daughter. _

"_Sakura…" Kakuzu muttered._

She opened her eyes and felt tears roll from them. She was face to face with door.

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><p>Ok, let me start off, for those who will read this. I don't usually have stories that last very long. so I was trying to drag it out a little, but i've decided to go ahead and speed thigns up, but i hope I'm not rushing. Sasori was finally introduced in this chapter.<p>

Now, let me say this. I love the Akatsuki. In this world, the one i created to write this, magic is only used by wanderers and people similar to 'roma' or gypsies. So in a sense they are still missing nin type people. they, espesially kisame and kakuzu aren't accepted by the rest of the people. each of theyre magic is basically their jutsus. hidan takes in blood and basically curses those, where as sasori uses magic energy to control his fighting puppets.

I made the Akatsuki nice because i love them. each still holds their basic personality traits, but i needed them to be a bit more human for this, and less 'kill the innocents!'

Sasori is still cold to other people, as i explained in this chapter, his parents are dead and thats what caused his anger towards humanity, minus innocents like children and the girl he found in sakura.

Please review. Let me know what you think, HOW can i make it better? just let me know ^_^

Lady Pyrien


	4. Of A Painting and Hidan's Beheading

OK, I'd like to thank those of you reading this story, and those who review ^_^ I'm going to come out right now and say it: this is a bit of an odd story. It is not up front and obvious . I won't say what I mean, but blieve me when I say this IS SakuSaso. ^_^ please read and review, I love hearing what you guys think!

**The Marionette**

**Chapter three: Of A Painting and Hidan's Beheading**

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><p>Sasuke had long since gone to work, leaving an emotionally distraught Sakura behind to think about her newest installment of "I'm Going Crazy!" Yes, the girl had named her dreams. To her, it was like a TV show. Every night a new episode would come on and it would confuse her. There were always new characters, people she hadn't even met before, like the new people Hidan and Kakuzu. Sakura thought the names sounded familiar, but there were no faces to put to them here in the real world.<p>

She knew Kisame and Itachi. Itachi, of course, was Sasuke's older brother, and Kisame was that man's best friend. He owned the local fish shop, where he sold exotic pet fish from tropical places all around the world. He dyed his hair blue, but he sure did not have blue skin, nor real gills on his cheeks. He was a normal, in his own special way, human, but in her dream…he seemed like a creature from some lame horror land shark movie. He had beady little eyes and the gills moved when he breathed. She was glad he had left in the dream.

The pink haired woman didn't really know what to think about anyone else. They seemed like nice peo-WAIT! She shook her head violently. They are **not** real people! They are figments of her imagination. Images brought on from real life by her stress.

The pink haired girl looked down at the bells on her wrists. They jiggled softly, reminding her that she was going crazy. Her dreams were proof. Whose dreams really pick up around the same spot every night? It just didn't happen!

But there was one thing that had made her wonder. The red head from her dream. He was strikingly familiar to the small marionette from the antique shop. He was the cause of all of this, she just knew it.

Everything that had been going on was in those dreams. Her upcoming wedding to the younger Uchiha, her best friends, even her old friend Sai, who taught painting at the recreational center. Maybe she would go see him. The socially awkward boy usually let her sit in on his class and play with his array of colored paints, when she was bored and looking for something to do.

Sakura loved Sai like an older brother. Well, the older brother who was just an asshole most of the time. He gave his friends the weirdest nicknames and she just happened to get a pretty bad one.

"Ugly!" she heard him say as soon as she walked into the classroom. She gave him a weak smile and memories of the dance they shared in her dream came flooding back. He was a great dancer, in said dream, but had abandoned her for something better to do.

"Hello, Sai," she greeted softly, "I was bored and decided to come murder your paints again!" she grabbed a tube of flaming red paint. She received a fake grin in reply. A few minutes later the class was full and people were starting the lesson on shading with paints. Sakura tuned out of Sai's lecture and took the set of brushes Sai usually reserved for her.

The rosette wasn't a great artist, but she did like doodling and making amateur paintings of really crappy people. One time she had made Ino a portrait and that had been a disaster. Ino complained that her forehead was too wide and that her waist was too thick. She also criticized how the eye color was not blue green, it was an icy aqua. That painting started a juvenile war between the girls that last two semesters of college.

They eventually made up and Ino grew to love the painting, but that was mostly because the rest of the group got equally crappy drawings from the medic.

The dipped the first brush in the black and began smoothing it along the blank canvas in long curved strokes. More strokes followed, but in colors of green, pink, and red. A crimson bloody red. The colors melted together to her, she just felt her body going through the steps. Dip, stroke, blend, dip, stroke, color. It was the pattern she picked up. For the entire hour long class lesson, she bit her lower lip and meshed the colors together in a swirled rainbow mess. It wasn't until Sai told the class to leave, that she realized it was getting late.

She quickly jumped up and grabbed her purse, "I'm sorry Sai, I forgot I'm meeting Tsunade at the hospital for lunch in a half hour!" she rushed out the door leaving her friend to clean up her paint mess. He sighed and went to view the monstrosity she had created this time, but was stopped dead in his tracks.

The image she had produced was breathtaking. It was unlike all of her previous doodles. It seemed to be made of only long, blended colored strokes. They came together in a way similar to pointillism. Up close it was a mess of blurry lines of pink white, black and red with a dap of green and brown, but when he stood back. Well, the picture became clear and beautiful. It looked like Sakura dancing in a beautiful pink gown, her green eyes looking into the brown ones of a red haired man he had never seen before.

"Hey, Sai, un," a voice drifted in from the door, "I'm all out of black acrylic for the sculptures and needed yours," the blonde art teacher walked up. He glanced his bright blue eyes at the painting and gasped, "Who painted this, un?" his iced eyes met with the cold, uncaring eyes of Sai.

"My friend, she stopped by today to color," he said unemotionally, "It's her best yet…Why, Deidara, you want it?"

The man, now known as Deidara nodded slowly, "Yes, actually…I need it…" his voice was filled with some unseen emotion. His eyes wide with astonishment, "I definitely need this work, un…".

Sakura growled at herself for being so late. She should have watched the clock more carefully. Tsunade was surely going to be upset!

The building was quiet, as it usually was and only a few nurses could be seen scattered throughout the hallways and in the café, where she would be meeting her teacher in the medical arts.

Passing through the halls she silently wished she was back home and asleep. Her eye widened, no she didn't! She shook the thought from her head. What was she thinking?

The café was bustling with nurses, doctors and relatives of the patients. She spotted Tsunade sitting at the back with her small lunch in front of her. She glanced up with her honey gold eyes, "You made it," the woman smiled, "You're late, I thought that maybe you'd just forgotten about your life here…"

Sakura sighed, "I'm just having some personal issues," she knew Tsunade would want to know more, "I've been having weird dreams and problems sleepwalking," she explained, hoping it was enough to satisfy the elder woman.

The amber eye hardened, "You don't sleep walk."

A sigh escaped Sakura's lip, "I know, I'm just nervous about the wedding coming up so soon," the girl muttered, "I'm going to go ahead and come back to work tomorrow, I think I need some normalcy back."

Her shishō gave her a look and smiled, "That's good to hear, Shizune had been going wild with you running off and having fun. She was left with your work," the woman sipped at the tea, which Sakura knew was spiked.

"I'll apologize when I can, but right now I'm just glad to be back," Sakura laughed softly.

The rest of lunch went much the same. The two talked about the hospital and Sasuke. They also brought up the upcoming events taking place in everyone's lives.

Sakura felt normal again. Talking with her shishō about random things and laughing about Shizune having been buried under a literal mountain of paperwork. It took the nurses an hour just to dig her out, not to mention another few hours cleaning up the wild mess of paper.

She had missed this, despite being away for only a day of two. It was good to be here with the staff. After lunch, Sakura swung by her children's ward to visit the room full of injured kids who needed to be watched. Most of their faces lit up when they saw her. The rest were new and hadn't a clue as to who she was.

One little girl, Rae, with dark pink hair and crimson eyes, loved Sakura. She was terminally ill, but that didn't stop the girl from jumping from her bed and tackling Sakura's legs.

The little girl had a rare heart disorder, that would eventually cause her heart to give out. Whenever the medic thought of it, it made her sad. The little girl was only eight, and that was pushing it with her disorder.

"You came back!" the little girl shouted happily. Sakura wrapped her arms around her in return and smiled warmly, "I missed you, Rae." she looked up, "I missed all of you! And I see you guys have new friends!" she stood and walked up to the three new children in the ward.

The first was a girl with short uneven blonde hair and her skin was riddled with bruises and cuts. Any one with a brain could tell she was either abused or beat up at school, but considering nine year olds didn't run around burning each other with cigarettes, she assumed the first guess was probably correct.

Another child, a boy this time was small and frail. His eyes were dark, where he was obviously lacking in sleep. His arm was strung up in a cast and he had an iv running into his arm. Trauma, she reasoned, probably a car accident.

The final child was similar in looks to the older boy. She had matching brunette pigtails spiraling from her head, though they were worn looking, like they hadn't been re brushed in days. She, too, had a cast, but this one on her leg. There was also a huge bandage taped to her forehead. It wasn't until later she would learn, that she was right about both account. The blonde was suffering internal damage as well, and was going to shipped to the north, where her grandmother lived, and the other two were now orphaned, and also being shipped off to distant relatives.

She didn't know what she would've done if she had been their age and losing her parents, or even having abusive parents. It brought fresh memories of the dreams. Her mother locking her away in the dark room, leaving her afraid of every sound, wondering if it was someone coming to save her, or hurt her.

Sakura shook the memory away and made her way back to the apartment, where she instantly made a cup of ramen and sat down to watch some game show that was on. It wasn't until late, when Sasuke finally arrived home. He hung his jacket and kicked off his shoes and plopped onto the couch beside her. She pecked his cheek and leaned against him.

In comfortable silence, they sat and watched the shows pass by on the screen. Around 10, Sasuke began to yawn, and that meant he would be going to sleep. Sakura bit her lip nervously at the thought of returning to that dream world.

Laying down in the bed, Sasuke sleeping since long ago. The clock now read one a.m. and she knew she needed to get some sleep, especially since in six hours she was supposed to be getting ready for work.

Should she take the chance? She didn't know anymore and it worried her. What worried her more, was part of her was begging to sleep, hoping she would see a certain red haired artist. Her thoughts carefully drifted around a ball room, where she was the star and to a puppet show that made her giddy, like a little school girl. Her eyes drooped shut and soon after her breath evened.

_Hidan turned out to be quite an interesting guy, despite his lack of lingual skills. He cursed more than anyone she had ever heard, and now knew more bad words than most ladies would ever dream of. The silver haired guard told her about his faith, the wonderful Lord Jashin. This entity had given his a special magic. The magic of immortality. _

_She had been interested in this topic, until he mentioned it was given to him in return for the lives of others. The young princess-to-be paled at this and scooted away from the wine eyed man. _

_Kakuzu was a little better, but it turned out he was nearly 92 years old, due to the fact he stole other people's hearts and used their energy for his magic. Sakura was now officially disturbed about the guards Itachi had left for her. She hoped that Sasori and Deidara were more normal than these two. She had only had a small encounter with them, but they seemed like perfectly normal people._

_After an hour or two of awkward silence, she suggested that they took her into town to visit some shops for new things. Hidan and Kakuzu were both displeased. Apparently the silver haired immortal didn't want to 'go fucking shop for some fucking damn princess with no other shit to do!' He claimed it was because he 'would end up carrying all the damned bags that she fucking bought.' Sakura's ears burned from such vulgarity and a deep blush was spread on her cheeks, permanently letting everyone know her mind had been tampered with dirty words._

_Kakuzu, on the other hand, hated seeing money be wasted of frivolous things like dresses and gloves to match. He didn't think they were necessary._

"_No wonder you haven't a girl to court," Sakura grinned, "You would refuse to buy her sweets and roses and pretty jewelry to show you loved her."_

_The man only scoffed, "I don't care for such things,"._

_Hidan laughed, "Yeah, he has a 20 foot stick up his ass and won't let anyone fucking pull it out!" _

_Sakura giggled and turned her attention to the road before them. Most people seemed to recognize their future princess and they were quick to bow low to her and offer her free things and huge discounts on products. Hidan was already grumbling about the two bags of free fruit and scarves he was forced to carry._

_Her emerald eyes scoured the area looking for the tailor's store, but instead her eyes came across a familiar blonde sweeping the steps in front of a small shop called Akasuna's. She smiled and ran up, with the other two quickly in tow. _

"_Deidara!" she happily squealed, causing the blonde to take on a fighting stance with his old broom. This odd sight sent Hidan into a fit of laughter, that seemed a bit too crazy for just a little humor. _

_The artist turned and flipped Hidan off, then turned to Sakura and smiled, "Well, I wasn't expecting to see you again today," he raised his visible brow, "Couldn't stay away from my sexy?"_

_Sakura's face flushed a deep crimson color, "What?"_

_He laughed, "I'm kidding, un." he leaned the broom against the wall and crossed his arms over each other, "So what brings you into the market, un?"_

_The vulgar man held up the bags, "She fucking wanted to go fucking shopping for some new damn clothes."_

"_Really?" a smooth velvet voice poured into the conversation. Sakura's eyes darted to meet the chocolate eyes of Sasori. "Hidan, Sakura is right here, do you really feel the need to be so…you?"_

_Hidan made a motion that Sakura didn't quite get. He thrust his pelvic area forward while sticking his tongue out and motioning with both if his hands to his…she flushed a deep red that rivaled the puppet maker's own hair. _

_Sasori shook his head and sighed, "Would you like to come in? I have tea making." he held his arm up towards the door. Deidara rolled his eyes and walked in to put away the broom. _

_Sakura giggled and nodded, "Only if I can see more of your puppets!" Hidan gagged, but this action was more appealing to Kakuzu, who didn't want he spending money in random, useless things._

_The puppet master laughed, "Of course," his face retuned to its dull expression, but he held a certain light in his eyes now._

_Sakura, had not truly wanted tea. She wanted to watch the red head make the little puppets dance again. It was truly unique to her. _

_They sat and talked about small things like weather and hobbies. Hidan was more interested, though, in messing with Deidara while they young blonde artist was busy sculpting. _

_He looked over the blue eyed boys shoulder and laughed, "You call that art? It looks like shit to me!" this earned Hidan a stab through the stomach with a very sharp tool that was lying on the work bench. _

_Sakura stood and screamed as blood poured from the wound on Hidan, but the silver haired man just laughed, "Wow, pinky, you sure made my day," he pulled the metal from his gut and set it back on the table, purposefully getting the clay bloody, "I told you, I'm fucking immortal, that means I can't die of old age and I can't get hurt." he motioned to the stream of blood as it quickly healed up. _

_Sakura was amazed, "That's…" she looked over at Kakuzu, who scoffed at the Jashinist._

"_Eh," he grunted, "It's only useful in the fact that I can't kill you." This must've set the religious man off, for he walked up to the stitched man and grabbed his collar._

"_Never say that my fucking lord is useless!"_

_Sasori walked up to the very confused girl and walked her over to Deidara, "Keep an eye on her, I have a feeling a beheading is near," then he walked away into a small back room, Sakura assumed was where the kitchen was._

_No sooner than he had said them, Sasori's words rang true. Blood splattered across the entire room and Hidan's head rolled to Sakura's feet. She squealed seeing the pooling blood and distant look in the man's pink-purple eyes. Blood also dribbled from his lips. Tears rolled down the young girl's face and she felt Deidara grab her hand with his gloved hand, "He's just being theatrical, un…"_

_Suddenly, the head's eyes blinked and he bared his teeth, "Damn you! Damn you to the pits of hell, where Lord Jashin will feast on your fucking soul!" his threats reached the man they were intended for and the man just looked at him with fire in his green eyes. Kakuzu walked over and grabbed the head by the tuft of blood stained hair. He hoisted it up and walked it back to the body, which was doing fine on its own. The man reached and put the head atop its body and she watched as a long black string like thing slithered from beneath the stitches in Kakuzu's arm and sewed the profanity spurting head back on._

_Sakura felt like the world wasn't making sense anymore. A man was decapitated before her but said man was still walking around talking and moving as if nothing had happened. He truly was immortal._

_Sasori walked back in and groaned, "Damn it," he muttered, obviously talking about the blood strewn all over his little work shop, "Hidan, Kakuzu, I warned you both about crap like this!"_

_He looked and saw the crimson liquid was all over the young girl's dress as well and he sighed, "You two are going to pay for this," the girl felt tears stream again, "Don't worry, crimson red is a pretty color on you…"_

_She blushed and smiled, feeling a little better about her ruined dress. At least it wasn't her blood, or worse someone who was actually dying on her._

_Another hour or so passed without incident, mostly due to the fact Sasori threatened them both with puppets, well more like he said he would turn them into puppets. Sakura silently wondered if he really could take a human body and make it into a wooden puppet._

_She shrugged it off and enjoyed the peace and quiet that came afterwards. Hidan occasionally made a comment or two, but it never escalated past a curse word or two. _

_Later that night, the cherry blossom princess returned home, with fresh memories of her new friends, Sasori and Deidara. _

_She really liked Deidara because he was funny when he and Sasori argued about art. He had a good point, something that you see once sticks with you forever, and makes you crave more. You would ponder that image for your entire life, making it a wonderful type of beauty. _

_But on the other hand, Sasori said art lasted eternity, meant to be seen by all when ever they wanted to go see it. It would always be there to comfort you when you needed it. _

_It was almost like Sasori in a way. He was there for her that night at the ball and she had a feeling he would always be the best at protecting her._

_She turned and came face to face with her mother, who had a very irritated look, "Sakura, I thought you would have been home by now…" her voice was in a low whisper, "And you two should be ashamed! She was to be home hours ago to get ready for dinner with her new family!" _

_Sakura gasped. She had forgotten about dinner that night. It would be the first big dinner for her and the Uchiha family. "I'm sorry, mother," she said meekly. _

_Hidan growled under his breath, something Sakura didn't catch, but probably didn't want to anyway. She started up the steps when she heard her mother shriek. The pink haired girl turned to see her mother yelling about the blood on Sakura's dress. _

_Sakura looked to see the crimson color against her skin. It not only made her feel older to see a dark red with her pale skin, but it reminded her of a certain puppeteer she knew. She blushed softly, "I'm sorry mother, Hidan got hurt today," she heard the immortal man scoff at the word hurt, "And well…"_

_Hidan looked at the woman with anger in his eyes, "It's not her fucking fault lady, so just shut the hell up now…you're giving me a damned headache,"_

_The man walked and flopped onto the small sofa and closed his eyes. Kakuzu glared at the younger man and sat down, "We'll be ready to escort you to the castle soon," he muttered angrily._

"_Sakura…" she heard her mother call after her, "Sakura!"_

"Sakura!" she groaned not wanting to open her eyes for her mother, but wait, "Sakura, wake up!" it wasn't her mother's voice. It was deeper so it definitely belonged to a male, "Wake up!"

Her eye jolted open to Sasuke's dark coal eyes staring into hers. She looked around and sighed. They were standing outside her apartment door. The cool early morning/late night air bit her skin, especially her ears, nose and toes, which were bare against the cold concrete.

She shivered as Sasuke pulled her into his arms, "I almost didn't find you this time…" he whispered, "I heard the bell when you opened the door…" she felt nothing. She felt almost numb, soon even the cold didn't bother her. Sakura felt her arms loosely snake around the Uchiha's waist. It felt mechanical to her.

Who was she now? Was she still lost in her dreams? Or was she finally back into reality where everything was perfect? She didn't know anymore.

Blonde hair whipped around in the wind as he sped down Main Street in his car with the window rolled down. In the back was the small painting of the two. He looked back at the painting and growled. Why was he doing this again? He didn't know either of the people in it, nor did he care. Maybe it had something to do with those men who showed up on her door step a few years ago.

They were creepy as hell and were very mean and rude, well at least the shorter of the two was. The tall one always kept his face hidden beneath hoodies and scarves.

He turned them away at first but they left quite a permanent impression on the young artist. The shorter one pulled out a medium length sharp metal rod and held it against his throat.

Mr. tall, dark, and socially mute did nothing to stop the little psycho bastard and Deidara had a new, unwanted piercing in his left hand. He honestly had no idea how it got there, but he knew better than to piss them off again.

He pulled into the apartment complex and sighed. He would enter his small one bedroom to a huge mess of cola and food. His bathroom would be a disaster and his hair gels and sprays would be mostly used up. His room would be untouched of course. Neither of them wanted to ever go in there, so it became his sanctuary.

Deidara pulled the painting from his back seat and started to the door marked with the letter C and number 4, a little joke on the landlords behalf, knowing Deidara's passion for fireworks and dynamite. His key slid in and turned and he closed his eyes and pushed the door open, wanting a few more minutes of peace before entering his own little hell.

As suspected when he entered the short man was cursing his ass off at the Xbox because his character was killed by a horde of zombies.

"Hey, it's the fuck face!" he yelled out. Deidara turned his blue eyes to him in a cold glare.

"I did as you asked, un," he tossed the painting to the floor in front of him, "Now leave my house!"

The man looked down and laughed, "What the hell is this shit?" he picked it up and a look that the blonde couldn't decipher crossed his face.

"It's a painting I found in one of my colleague's rooms, un," he muttered, "He said some girl painted it, but it's the red head you told me to look for…"

The man started cackling, "I said a man, not the painting of him, fuck man, this is almost as bad as when you got all excited over the fucking Gaara brat!" he continued laughing.

"It's harder than you think to find a bloody red haired man in this town, un!" he yelled, getting frustrated, "I've searched all the art galleries as you suggested I do, all of the art schools and even the damn rec center!" Deidara felt his face ablaze, "I'm done, un! YOU can find him!"

The tired blonde fell against his chair in exhaustion, "I'm done…" He knew he didn't mean it. Personally when he saw the painting, he felt like he knew the man in it, but he knew the only man with crimson hair he had ever known was Gaara. He wanted to be done, but he was curious as to who the hell was so important that his life was threatened AND he was sent on some huge mission to find him.

"Why do I have to find him anyway, un?" he asked for what had to be the 150th time since these men had entered his life.

"Because, fuckhead, I said so," he picked up the controller and started a new round, "You know very well, why we can't go and fucking find him on our own!"

Deidara rolled his eyes. No he didn't. They never told him anything except that he would be able to find him.

"Have I ever said how much I hate you Hidan, un," Deidara muttered.

Hidan only laughed and gave a knowing look to Kakuzu, "More than I can fucking count Deidara-_chan_," he laughed, knowing it pissed off the blonde.

Pink hair, pink dressed, pink shirts, pink skirts. Sakura stared into her closet and groaned. This color was starting to make her sick. It was so unnatural for someone to own so many clothes in one color. She smiled softly and grabbed her purse. She was going shopping.

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><p>That was chapter four, a little shorter than I wanted, but after what happened to Dei, I didn't want to keep dragging it out lol.<p>

I hope you guys liked ^_^ please Review!

on the note of the story, I've introduced Hidan and Kakuzu into the real world, and not just the dream world ^_^ as well as Deidara lol ^_\)

Lady Pyrien


	5. Of Bloody Messes and a Secret Garden

OK guys, I'd like to thank those of you who have reviewed ^_^ your reviews make me so happy! but with nearly 740 hits, I feel like some of you aren't telling me about your experience T^T if you hate it, tell me why, if you love it let me know! I enjoy getting reviews! I love hearing what you guys think!

ON another note, I don't what to feel about this chapter. I wanted to make a little longer but the ending seemed great as is. I think Sasori became a little ooc towards the end, but idk, lol.

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><p><strong>The Marionette<strong>

**Chapter four: Of Bloody Messes and a Secret Garden**

Her image was one to behold. Dark red and black clothes filled her closet now, as well as the black skirt she was wearing and the crimson short sleeve. Sakura was quite happy with herself. She smiled brightly at the color, which for most, made them think of death or blood, but for her…it was oddly comforting.

The door opened and she smiled walking through the halls to come face to face to Itachi rather than her fiancé.

"Itachi?" she looked at the elder Uchiha boy. He smiled back.

"Hello, Sakura," he started, "Sasuke wanted me to drop by and pick up a few thing. He told me to tell you he'd be working late, but insisted, since it was day off, that I should be here to protect you until he got off." the older man smiled his worn out smile, "I think he's working too hard, but he's convinced something bad is going to happen…"

Sakura laughed nervously, "Yeah, working too hard…" she told the Uchiha to make himself at home and that she would be in her room writing. He nodded and went to Sasuke's office to gather the files he needed.

The pink haired, yet crimson clad, girl sat on her bed and pulled out the journal and began to spill her newest dreams onto them.

She let it flow of the many new experiences as well as the chocolate eyes that were warm and soft yet cold, showing years of pain. She wrote about a beheading, but somehow the man was still walking and breathing. The paper also held words about a certain blonde with a passion for sculpting and a tall man with stitches holding him together with long thread like tentacles pent up inside.

She wrote of blood covering a long pink gown. Itachi managed to slip into the room and scare the living daylights out of her when he asked her if she knew where Sasuke's work folder was. He left soon after gathering what her needed, promising to be right back. The girl dismissed him and looked down at the pen in her hands. Suddenly, she didn't feel like writing anymore, besides her shift at the hospital was going to start soon.

Sakura rose to get ready for work.

-Deidara-

The blonde growled when he awoke the next morning. Hidan was obviously in another fight with his partner in Deidara's torturous hell. Kakuzu was yelling about how they needed to be leaving soon. The blonde smiled, hoping they would.

The silver haired man yelled back that they weren't finished and hadn't found that friend of theirs and that Deidara was they only way.

"Listen you ass," he started, "That twit had that bond with him and should be able to find him!"

Kakuzu growled, "He tried, that damned fool isn't anywhere near here and neither is she…" both grew silent.

Deidara slipped from his bed and crept to his door and peeked out at the two. Hidan straightened up, "I know they are…that fucking picture proves it!"

"You're being stupid!" Kakuzu yelled, "That proves nothing! We don't even know if he's alive!"

"No you're fucking stupid!" Hidan snapped, "Yes! A big money loving sinner!"

Deidara watched as Kakuzu reached behind the foul mouthed priest, of sorts, and grabbed the biggest kitchen knife Deidara owned and plunged it straight into Hidan's chest. Blood spurted from the wound and Deidara yelped.

"What the hell, un!" he gasped running out to see what was going on, "You just stabbed him!" he looked at Hidan who should be screaming for his life, but instead he was laughing.

"I forgot," he gasped between his laugher, "You wouldn't remember!" he pulled the knife from his chest and the bloody wound healed up nicely, and completely, as if the assault had never happened.

"…un…" and Deidara's world faded to black. People didn't just walk away after a fatal wound, much less laugh about someone's reaction. Something was wrong.

-Sakura-

It was nearing nine, the time she typically went to bed with Sasuke, but since he wasn't here, she was able to just lie awake in her room thinking. For some reason, having those dreams didn't frighten her anymore. Only the sleepwalking did. The dreams were like a good book. It was hard for her to get into at first, but now that she knew the characters, she could sit back and enjoy the plot.

She sighed and looked towards her door, hoping that Sasuke would walk in and come cuddle her and ask her how her day had gone. She would smile and kiss him softly and tell him all about work.

The pink haired medic would tell him about her shift going well, and how she had a breakthrough with her trauma patient. She would also mention that she had actually had a pretty easy and fun day at work, but he wasn't. He was still at work setting up his position for when Itachi handed him the company.

Tears hit her eyes again and she felt alone in the world. She didn't understand. The girl knew that Sasuke had an entire company to run and that it would take a lot of his time to keep it from sinking under, but she just wanted someone to sit with her and talk to her again. That Sasuke seemed long gone, lost in the world of supply and demand and black and red.

Her eyes closed, wanting to embrace the dream world where she had friends who would do as she said, despite her not being the actual one to give these orders. She still wasn't completely comfortable feeling like she was in some else's body, just watching through her eyes, but she liked the people she met, even Itachi was equally as nice to her in both worlds.

_Itachi stood in a hallway looking at a scroll. He glanced up when her heard a man clear his throat. His red eyes glanced up and met with the pink-purple of Hidan. Behind the religious man was Sakura, decked out in one of her pastel dressed, and her mother who was wearing a nice velvet like dress in a dark green. Kakuzu stood behind her and did not look pleased. Itachi would have to ask him what went wrong this time._

"_Why hello!" he smiled softly with worn eyes, "My mother and father are waiting for you in the dining room, Hidan can escort you two, I have something to discuss with Kakuzu…"_

_Sakura looked at him and smiled, "It was nice seeing you again, Itachi," he nodded and walked away with the stitched man._

_The dining room was truly glorious. Golden chandeliers that put the moon and sun to shame with their bright stunning light. The Uchiha crested tapestries hung regally, as if they knew the power they held by bearing the Uchiha fan._

_Once again, the queen was like an ethereal being. She had a gown made of laces velvets and silks. Her hair was simply down with a small tiara placed upon her brow. It was a lot less flashy than the one she wore before, but that one was obviously reserved for formal occasions. This one was the one she wore around the palace to assert her power when no one else was watching her closely for her royal behavior. _

_The king however, seemed much the same, from the colors he wore up to his crown. Sakura assumed that it was for all occasions. He was seen by the court all day and subjects, so he didn't have the luxury of multiple crowns and head decorations._

_His face was stony and cold still, but this time when he looked towards her, he held a fatherly love in his eyes. It made Sakura feel better._

_After hugs were exchanged and they were all seated, Mikoto called over one of the maids and asked if the boys were ready for dinner. The maid informed her that Itachi had bailed for his military planning, and Sasuke was on his way._

_That was one thing Sakura had noticed about the prince. He never waited on her to arrive. He always made her wait. The day she came to meet him, he was late and didn't meet her until moments before they were to descend the stairs. And now, a huge dinner for them, she arrived a little late herself and he was still not here._

_She sighed, wondering if life was going to be this way. She would be waiting on him to finish whatever he wanted, then it would be Sakura time. Sakura growled silently. She didn't want that at all! She wanted a man who would wait on her when she needed it. The pink haired princess sighed and figured it couldn't be helped._

_Her green eyes looked up and met her future mother-in-law's, "So Your ma- I mean, Mikoto," not quite comfortable with mother yet, "Why are you trying to marry Sasuke rather than Itachi?" she was wondering this. As Itachi was the man who would inherit the throne, and would probably be the one to need an heir to take on the throne, therefore a wife to bear those heirs._

_Mikoto laughed a sweet sugary laugh, "Why, are you offering to marry Itachi instead?"_

_Sakura felt blood rush to her cheeks, "No, I mean, not that Itachi isn't a good person or attractive, it's just, wouldn't you want to secure future heirs to the throne?" she received a harsh look from her mother, for her apparent curiosity. Curiosity was one of Sakura's unbecoming traits._

"_Well, yes, but you see…Itachi seems to more interest in the protection of our kingdom rather than leading it," she stated softly, "We believe he is just going to pass the crown to his brother and continue serving with his militia and secret corps…" she smiled._

_The young girl realized that her guards must be part of this secret corps. They were each unique enough to be in such a group under Itachi's command. _

"_He must be loyal to do such a thing for his kingdom…" Sakura murmured, "To pass up all that power, just to make sure we all stay safe."_

_Mikoto nodded, "He is, but it's not necessarily just for the kingdom, he's trying to keep his great uncle from gaining the army back, who was the previous commander, until Itachi stepped up against him," the Uchiha woman sighed. _

_Just then, Sasuke walked in wearing a white shirt, which was mostly unbuttoned, reveling his toned chest. The made Sakura blush, for she had never seen a man so indecent. He also had sweat pouring down his face and said chest. _

"_Sorry, mother, father, Lady Haruno, Sakura," he looked at them respectively, "I was finishing my training for today." he made himself comfortable beside Sakura and looked up. The maids and butlers quickly rushed around, handing out huge trays of food. They each had a delicious soup for a starter and it escalated into roast boar and soon ended with a delicious pastry dessert._

_Sakura was delighted to have such a wonderful meal. She hadn't felt this full in a long time. She glanced up at Sasuke, who had been silently watching her while they ate and it made her a little self conscious. A light blush spread across her face and she nearly missed what Mikoto had been saying._

"_I hope you'll take me up on that offer Lady Haruno," she giggled softly to the other woman. Soon after they excused themselves to some tea, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to walk to the courtyard gardens. Of course a few of Itachi's guards followed behind. The taller one was defiantly the man Kisame she had met, the other was an odd man, who kept eerily silent. Half of his face was black, the other white. The black side had white speckles all over. And the scariest part was the yellow gold eyes that watched her every move._

_She learned his name was Zetsu, and due to a curse laid on him when he was a child, he and his twin brother were fused. They were able to separate, but if it went on too long, it would kill them both, so they chose to stay together most of the time. _

_The black half scared her more than anything. Sakura knew when he was the brother speaking, because his voice would become raspy and full of hunger for something she didn't honestly want to know. White Zetsu was much nicer, but still creepy in his own way. Even his golden eyes watched the way she moved and she swore he even licked his lips._

_She didn't know how to take it, until Kisame scolded the creature for his obsessive cannibalism. Sakura felt her blood run cold. Zetsu thought she looked like a snack, didn't he? The young princess to be began to shiver with revulsion of the thought of another person eating her in the literal sense. She felt Sasuke's warm hand slip into hers calmingly._

_Her emerald orbs met his onyx ones and she smiled softly. He was comforting. She figured she would one day come to love him. He was sweet and gentle to her, but at the same time it felt like he was pushing her to be a perfect doll. _

_The cool night air bit at her skin, but not in a harmful manner. It was a nice night. The moon hung. Half full, in the sky, illuminating the light stream of clouds left over from that day. She grinned at the speckles of stars that were placed in the sky. Underneath this moon, she felt peace. _

_Sasuke sat with her and talked to her about how when he was younger, he and his brother would play hide and seek and tag in these mazes of rose bushes and cherry trees. The boy, soon to be man, was calming, yet sadly, talking about how he missed those days, and was beginning to resent Itachi for choosing the militia over him and his mother. _

_Apparently neither saw the man often, because he was always traveling around the kingdom in secrecy to make sure peace was still in effect. He talked about one of the missions had scared the family to death. _

_Itachi had taken Kisame, Sasori and Deidara out to the edges of the kingdom, where a small civil war had broken out between neighboring farming villages. The crowned prince thought it to be nothing to get so worked up, but he hadn't counted on the notoriously evil alchemist, Orochimaru to be there. He had found out it was the snake scientist who was causing the trouble. _

_Itachi ended up being seriously injured by one of the twisted creatures creations, a giant snake fueled by dark magic. Deidara and Sasori had barely managed to get out of the area with Itachi and themselves intact. _

_After that, Fugaku began to make plans to have his heir moved from his position and back to the line for the throne, as he should have been, but Itachi refused and continued on his dangerous underground missions to keep peace._

"_What happened to that evil snake man?" Sakura squeaked. _

_Sasuke looked at her and smirked, "He disappeared again. We think he escaped the kingdom to build his own army or something, but no one here had jurisdiction out of our boundaries, so we haven't tried hunting him down yet."_

_It was a little bit to chew on, but Sakura was determined not to show any more fear in front of her fiancé. He was strong and she didn't want to appear weak in front of him. _

_They walked back to the castle in silence, but even though Sasuke was right there and Kisame and Zetsu were on guard to protect her, she still felt uneasy. It had to be the story about the evil snake building an army for his own dark purposes. _

"_Sakura…"_

She groaned and looked up into the warm black eyes of her future brother-in-law, Itachi. His big hands had a hold of her shoulders and worry was painted across his face. The pink haired girl looked around and groaned again. There they were, standing half way down the stairs of the apartment complex. Below her was the sidewalk and above her was the level of rooms in which people, including her, lived.

A sigh escaped her lips and she looked back at the elder Uchiha brother, "I'm sorry I worried you…I have a bad habit of sleepwalking…"

Itachi knew it was more than that, "Tell me what's going on," his voice was full of love, but he was also stern. She winced and looked away, "It's nothing really, a few nights ago I started having weird sequenced dreams and also started walking around the house…"

Itachi wrapped his arms around her and saw Sasuke walking up the stairs with a very tired look in his eyes, "What the…" he walked up, "Was she sleepwalking again?"

The older brother nodded and turned the girl to her fiancé. In turn, the girl wrapped her arms around the cold Uchiha and he petted her hair, trying to calm her. She looked up at him, "It's cold out here…" her voice was somewhat emotionless as well as her eyes were dull and blank.

Guilt ripped into Sasuke, seeing her standing here cold, and more than just her temperature. Something was wrong. He knew it, but she wouldn't open up to anyone and now she was growing distant.

Inside, Itachi made tea while Sakura sat on her couch. The younger brother held her tightly muttering promises that everything would be okay and that nothing would go wrong again. Part of her, as she listened to his whispers, hoped he was right and that she would live a happily ever after with him, but as the days ticked down until the wedding, she felt that it was begging to get hopeless as she was ever creeping away from home in her sleep.

Tears finally escaped. They cascaded like a waterfall that refused to stop. She didn't know why these tears came. They weren't for her doomed future, or were they? Were they not for the fact that she may end up in a mental hospital? Or were they for her confusion? She didn't know anymore.

Sakura sipped at the tea Itachi had made and felt a wave of stress released from her shoulders. The elder Uchiha boy knew exactly how to make the best calming tea. Her nerves repaired from their frazzled state and she felt peaceful. The tears stopped and she closed her eyes and smiled, "Thanks, that was delicious…" she whispered. With all of her stress in a distant place, she felt sleepy again and dozed off on Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke smiled and looked at his brother, "What kind of tea was that?"

Itachi laughed, "Some green tea I found, but I slipped a muscle relaxant in it, so she shouldn't wake until morning, nor will she be sleepwalking either." the elder Uchiha sat down and yawned lightly. Sasuke felt bad for having asked his brother to stay up watching Sakura.

"Hey, brother, you can sleep here tonight, if you want," Sasuke smiled lightly, one of the rare smiles reserved for his mother, his brother and occasionally Sakura. He picked up the sleeping girl.

"Thank you," Itachi said.

"No, thank you, I'm afraid she's going to just up and walk out of here without even realized what she's doing…" the younger boy muttered. He walked into his room to lay Sakura to sleep.

-Deidara-

When he awoke, there was a distinct throbbing in the back of his head. He tiredly reached up and felt the small bump and groaned. He couldn't remember what had really happened. He did however remember the two fighting people. One being seriously injured. Deidara pushed himself off his pillow frantically, but instantly regretted it as a pounding pain stretched his skull in all directions.

It was then that the tall man walked in. His creepy green eyes with the red instead of white, met the icy blue of the artist.

"You're finally up, but I guess it was to be expected," Kakuzu growled in his normal tone, "You hit your head pretty hard when you fainted-"

He was cut off by Hidan yelling out, "Like a fucking sissy-bitch!" the silver haired man enter the room, with no shirt, much to Deidara's disgust. That man never wore shirts and it took the blonde two months to convince Hidan to stop walking around naked after showers and waking up in the mornings.

Kakuzu glared, "Shut up and get out." the reaction he got was probably not the one he wanted, but was something he expected from the religiously zealous man. The man suddenly went on a huge rant about Kakuzu being a dick eater and atheist and his lord Jashin would see him burn for his stupidity.

Deidara groaned loudly, "Shut up, both of you, un," he covered his face, "My head is killing me and you're making it worse!"

He looked over at the clock which read 12:16 a.m. Deidara's eyes nearly popped from his face, "How long have I been out, un!"

The man made of dark skin and stitches glared, "A few hours, like I said you fell," he sat down and shot Hidan a dirty look for mocking him.

The art teacher covered his eyes, "I missed work…" Hidan started his maniacal laughter, "Don't worry about that girly boy, some freak called asking about your fucking ass so I told him you were a damn sissy and fainted," he said fainted in a high pitched voice as he rolled his eyes, "He said he'd cover you shift, but for a small price, the shit didn't say what it was, but I assumed he wants you," he laughed, "You're such a fucking girl, you always have been! You might wanna warn your fucking boyfriend you're a guy!"

Kakuzu growled and stood, "Get the hell out!" he walked over and grabbed the man by his silver haired and dragged him out of the room, leaving Deidara alone. He wasn't too keen to having those men in his room, his last sanctuary.

He disliked Hidan a lot, but only because he annoyed him. He wasn't sure if what he had seen earlier was real or not, for it seemed the priest was still alive and since he was shirtless, Deidara had seen no wounds, no gashes, not even a scar.

He stood and walked to the bathroom, ignoring the screaming coming from the kitchen. It was just Hidan being himself. The blonde looked into the mirror and groaned for the millionth time in the few minutes he'd been awake. He was a mess. The long blonde hair, he was proud of, was in shambles, a total rat's nest with knots galore. He had bags under his eyes, from obvious lack of real sleep these past few days.

Whoever they were looking for was going to get an earful when he finally found him. What could possibly be so important about this man? If the guy was smart, he would stay hidden. Deidara wouldn't wish Hidan and Kakuzu on any of his worst enemies, not even the hot shot Uchiha who lived down the street. He hated Itachi for silly reasons, but mostly that Itachi had an air about him that openly mocked everything else. The blonde had once let himself slip and he called the way Itachi was art.

It pissed him off and he went through the rest of high school trying to best the man at everything, even though he knew in the end, the Uchiha would be rich and spoiled with his company while Deidara was barely scraping by as an art teacher for students who didn't respect the true meaning of art. They all wanted their sculptures to last forever and ever, instead of watching it go out with a bang.

He looked into his dull blue eyes, which were once so bright with passion. When did he let that go? When did he allow himself to fall from his artistic glory? Then an image of pink-purple eyes, companion to the red and green ones, with the painting of the red haired male all came to mind. It was around then, when they showed up. He became obsessed with trying to get them to leave, he had lost himself. He smirked, no longer would he sit back and let them push him around. He was going to find that man for them, or he would die trying.

Hidan was sitting at the kitchen table playing with a small knife and looked up at the blonde, who came waltzing into the room like he was on some sort of drug. The silver haired man growled at the display. He had always disliked the way Deidara bounced around like he was king of art and therefore king of beauty.

He took the knife and carved his lord's symbol into his hand. Pleasure filled him, but soon the wound closed. He looked back at the blonde, who was fixing a midnight snack. Then he calmly walked back to his room, probably to make those disgusting little things he called art.

-Sakura-

Morning came all to fast for the young Haruno girl. She heard the sharp buzzing of her alarm and quickly slammed her fist against the snooze button. Her eyes slid open groggily and a yawn escaped her lips. She glanced at the clock and sighed. She would be starting her shift soon at the hospital, so she need to get up and get ready.

When arriving at the huge building, she clocked in and slowly made her way to her little office. On the desk was the paperwork, she knew she had to go through. The lists of all her appointments with repeat patients, learning to walk or build muscle mass in their limbs. Some of the work was over the medication that some of her children would be taking after they got out of surgery or anything else they needed.

Hours passed of the mundane task, but it all paid off when lunch time came around. Her tired eyes hung low as she made her way to the café. The medic grabbed her usual of chicken teriyaki on white rice, steamed veggies and some juice.

Tsunade came walking up and smiled at her former student, "Hello, there Sakura," the woman sat down.

"Hi, shishō," the girl mumbled. She barely paid attention to the woman, who was slowly getting drunk with her 'water'. Sakura knew better and that bottle was 100% not water, and probably sake.

She drifted out of the conversation and just ate her meal. Tsunade left after saying she had things to do, leaving the young woman to go back to her office and prepare for her next shift in the physical therapy room with the kids.

"One more look at these papers and I'll be good to go…" she whispered to herself rather crazily. Sakura hoped to get the work done and get to the room on time, but she didn't expect to doze off.

_Sakura had finally learned that her mother and Mikoto were already planning to move her into the castle. While they were having dinner, Itachi had his group moving the stuff to the new home. The princess-to-be couldn't believe it. Her mother didn't ask her if she even wanted to leave her little home, but then she remembered her mother probably didn't care as long as Sakura ended up married to the Uchiha prince. _

_Her eyes were downcast as she made her way through the halls to her new room. It was lavish with pink and white dresses with pastel greens and yellows, perfumes, fit for nothing less than a girl who would rule the kingdom aside her kingly husband one day, and many other things, from both her old home and her new one. _

_It was more lovely than she would have ever imagined, but it was too much. Once again she was a precious little doll that others would throw in cute ruffles and play tea party with. She couldn't take it, so she ran right past Kisame, who was her escort that evening and right back into the garden maze. The distraught girl ignored the cries for her to come back and immediately hid in the bushes. _

_Tears flowed freely down her face as she tried to come to terms that she would never know freedom. Sakura was born to be pushed around. First by her mother, now it would be this Uchiha family, mostly Sasuke. She sobbed pathetically in the dirt and mud, ruining the second dress in one night. _

_The dirty girl quickly bit her lips and shut her eyes tight, pulling her knees closer to her chest. Footsteps were heard lightly treading on the grassy area. They got close and then stopped. The emotionally strained girl was terrified to open her thinking maybe she'd been found and they would drag her back to the lap of luxury, something most girl would die for._

_When nothing changed she sighed, defeated, and looked up into the warm chocolate eyes of Sasori. He was knelt in front of her with a soft smiled on his face, "You know, tears are very unbecoming of you," he wiped them away. _

_Sakura gasped at the light way he touched her skin and caressed the tears away. He grunted softly, as he fell down into a sitting position beside her, "Why are you out here all by yourself?" he looked off into the sky with an expression of boredom. _

_She hesitated, to look off at the moon, "I'm scared…" she whispered. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow._

"_I don't want this life…" she felt a new round of tears, "Sasuke is nice enough, and his family is wonderful and treat me nicely, but I can't be myself around them…I can't be anything, but a perfect little doll."_

_Sasori grinned, "Is that all?" he looked back to the sky, "There's nothing wrong with being a doll sometimes," he referenced to his little puppet creations, "I think you'd make a lovely doll, one that I would certainly cherish because she's so adorable,"_

_The girl giggled at him being very unusual, "Yes, there is nothing wrong wit being a doll sometimes, but that's me all the time…my mother would punish me if I let any of my true colors seep through…"_

_A dark aura came over the male beside her, "How?"_

_Sakura gasped at the sudden change, "Well since she couldn't hurt me physically, due to the fact others would see and no one would want to marry me, she would just lock me in the dark room for hours._

"_I get really scared in there…" she tried to bite the tears back and just as they were about to fall, she was caught off guard by a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. The dark feeling was replaced by sorrow._

_Sasori couldn't believe that someone could be so heartless towards something so innocent. He held her tight, hoping it would be enough to give her courage. It was only moments later twisted thoughts entered the man's head and he suddenly felt content. _

_He walked the young girl back to the castle, her hand in his, so that she wouldn't feel so alone. Sakura giggled telling Sasori about this one fight that the zombie twins, as she heard Kisame call them, had, where Hidan had been de armed, literally, for trying to take some gold from Kakuzu. Kakuzu had taken the arms and proceeded to hit Hidan with them. _

_Sakura saw something that night that no one had ever seen before: Sasori's true smile. He smiled at her softly, "You're such an interesting creature, Lady Sakura," he tucked her hair behind her ear and continued leading her into the all stone building._

_Butterflies filled the young girl's belly and a deep crimson blush spread across her cheeks. None the less, that night, in her new bed, she dreamt of crimson hair, chocolate eyes and a beautiful white smile._

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><p>well? what did you think? Do you have any thoughts on it? How about on what I could do to make it better?<p>

Reviews please! OH on another note! (i say that alot .) I have two more story ideas but I was wondering what couple you guys would like to see. The guy counterpart is loving but at the same time sadistic ans cruel. the girl is determined and caring. i just need the characters to fit! ^_^

Lady Pyrien


	6. Of One's Death and Another's Kiss

^_^ welcome to notha chaptah! lol I'd like to thank thosse of you who reviewed! You guys are truly awesome! You guys are the reason I stayed up all night typing out the longest chapter so far . lol anyways, like i said I stayed up all night XD so if it gets crazy or begins to not make sense...tell me so I can fix it lol

OH I also have a poll that says its on my profile but I'm not sure lol, Anyways It's for the pairing of my next story. I have plotline building, I just need your opinion on who should I pair Sakura with or if there should even be a pairing . the story is wierd like that. lol

Enjoy my lovely chapter, I'm sure a few of you will be super pleased...I was.

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><p><strong><span>The Marionette<span>**

Chapter six: Of One's Death and Another's Kiss

Birds were singing happily when Sakura awoke. The sun was bright and she rose her eyebrow sleepily and looked around. It seemed to be early morning. One thing that bothered her, though, was the fact the ground was below her rather than sheets, or even the carpet of her home. The second was the fact she could see a raven haired man yelling for her to wake up. Her senses suddenly came to her and she looked around.

Sakura couldn't believe it. She was standing on the concrete sidewalk a block away from her apartment. Sasuke grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace, "I barely caught you this time…" he whispered.

Surprise filled her. The pink haired girl didn't feel anything but. Sasuke began explaining about him waking with her gone and no where in the house. He said he heard the bells when he walked outside. The man explained seeing her stumbling down the stairs, slowly, but without incident. He looked her in the eyes and told her that it took him a whole block just to wake her.

His eyes were still cold, but they had an small amount of worry to them. She smiled softly and spoke, "Let's just go home…" the girl noticed his confusion at her ability to just push it off and walk away like that, when just a few nights ago, she'd melted into hysterics over walking to her mirror. Sasuke growled wondering if she was just toying with him, or maybe it had something to do with those dreams of hers. Perhaps he would take her back to see the therapist and get the man to tell him what she says.

"Sakura, love," he purred, feeling her shiver beneath the hand he placed on her shoulder softly, "Maybe you should go see the doctor again? Take off from work and just go talk with him again." She looked at him with near black green eyes, the only emotion being shown was one of confusion and slight betrayal. He knew she might take it the wrong way and think he was trying to haul her off to a mental hospital. "I only mean, It can't be good for you to be having these dreams and then keeping all that information to yourself…and you won't share with me…" he saw the raw guilt in her expression.

Sakura smiled, "I'm sorry, for worrying you…" she looked away distantly and walked away, back towards the apartment. The Uchiha decided he would go ahead and make that appointment.

The remainder of the morning, which Sasuke called in for both of them, despite both Tsunade and Itachi's telling them that they shouldn't, was quiet and a little awkward. Sakura would occasionally look off into the distance and become lost in some unseen item. He figured it had something to with the dreams she had. Maybe it was just her giving up on being happy again. He glowered at the latter.

"So, I made an appointment with Dr. Oro, again," he sipped his coffee, and met her eyes. They were full of anger. 'Here it comes…', he thought.

"What!" she stood up, "What right have you? I don't need you taking me to see him like I'm some mental patient needing watch!" He expected tears now, like usual, but instead he was met with more raw anger.

"I don't need it! I don't you treating me like some broken doll in constant need of fixing!

"I was dealing with it my own way, and I don't need that creep telling me what I already know and then telling me to wear these stupid bells! I don't need you doing this!"

He stood and slammed his fist on the table, an action that frightened the anger from Sakura and replaced it with fear. She had only seen Sasuke like this once when him and Naruto went at it in gym one day. She had seen the boys fight with no limitations. They were filled with the intent to kill. If the teachers hadn't stopped them, it was have been bloodshed. The boys were weird for awhile, but senior year brought them close again.

His eyes locked into hers, making her want to shrink out of the hard glare, "What right!" his voice was dark and low, "What right?" his voice rose, but she noticed the slight breaks where rage was trying to escape his obvious hold on the emotion.

"I have every right!" this is where he broke and started screaming at her, "I am you future husband and I worry about you!" his voice shook as much as his body did. His fingers curled to form a fist, a very tight fist at that. She knew he had rage problems when things pissed him off, but he wouldn't hurt her, right? Right?

His knuckles turned white and his glare became more intense, "So, you don't want me helping you?" he half smiled and laughed a little crazily, "Then fine, so be it. Next time you wander off in your sleep, you'd better hope Ino or Naruto is there to stop you from disappearing! It won't be me!" it was then he turned on his heel and stormed form the room and she heard crashing and knew instantly it was something important to her. The door slamming was the final noise before she fell to her knees and broke. She couldn't help but sob so hard her chest hurt from lack of breath and her eyes and cheeks burned with the tears.

Her body was racked with the sobbing and she shook violently in fear, only thankful for the fact the raged man hadn't hurt her. Tsunade wouldn't take kindly to Sakura having bruises only days away from her special student's wedding.

That's right, Sakura thought between sobs, the wedding is days away and they just had the biggest fight known to man. Would Sasuke still want her after this? Does she even want him? The thought brought a fresh round of sobbing. Time passed slowly, or was it quickly? The broken blossom cried until no tears remained and her body just shook with the power of the raw emotion still left behind.

She felt tired and exhausted from the energy it took to release what she had and now she was physically and emotionally drained. Why did life have to pick on her? What had she done for her to be done in like this? Would she really keep walking until dead or hit by a car or falling off a cliff?

The girl pulled her knees closer to her, despite how uncomfortable it was laying on her kitchen floor. Her eyes fell and she tried to calm her breathing but it was incredibly hard, with thoughts of her fight, of her ruined life, of the apparent curse coursing her body.

Suddenly she was ripped form her self loathing to a sound of light tinkling music. It came in an eerie flowing fashion, and she knew the sound. It was a sound she had become way too familiar with, but could it really be possible? Sakura stood shakily on her two feet and carefully walked into her room, where the sound was coming from.

She pushed the door open and the music got louder as she stepped up towards her vanity mirror. Her eyes widened in horror at the small bloody red music box, open with all its musical glory. The small figure danced and she looked closely to see that he had his arms held up, like he was missing a dancing partner. He finally stopped dancing and the music went off.

Sakura picked up the trinket and found the twisting pin at the bottom. She would it and smiled softly at the familiarity of the little red haired figure. Soft music filled her passionately, and what was once a creepy song was now becoming comforting. It made her feel safe, almost in the same way dream Sakura felt in the previous dream, when Sasori had found her and listened to her, rather than dragging her back to the castle without a second glance.

Sasori…she looked down at the dancing figure, who she suddenly realized was strikingly similar to the puppeteer from her dreams. Her eyes widened and she quickly grabbed her shoes. The pink haired medic had to get down to that shop immediately. It had a ton of puppets, so someone had to have made them, or at least give them to the shop, or something. She knew she was going out on a limb, but the music box had a figurine that was identical to the man in her dreams, and this box had somehow gotten in her room.

She didn't think Sasuke would buy it for her, he had an instant hatred for the place, and Ino hadn't been over. She was the only one, beside her fiancé, that knew of the store. How did it get there? Had she actually bought it in her sleep? No, Sasuke said he caught her as she was going down the stairs. So how?

Her mind raced to so may outrageous possibilities, so almost blurted to the old woman behind the counter to stop stalking her. Instead of causing herself total embarrassment, she just began to act as if she was merely a customer. She felt eyes upon her, undoubtedly the old woman standing behind the counter with a slight glare. The woman ignored it and began to look at the shelf, of course with the music boxes. A gasp escaped her lips, though it shouldn't have surprised her that the red music box was indeed missing.

Only a clean spot was left in the dust where the box used to be. Her head snapped to the side to see the woman walking into the back room. Sakura sighed and made her way around the room into the puppet corner. The same old dusty wooden and metal beings hung lifelessly on the walls and sitting on the shelves. Nothing else had been touched. She didn't even really know what she expected to find here. Maybe a clue? Yeah, well a clue for what? She sighed defeated, and was going to walk out, but something odd caught her attention. There was another empty spot where something should have been, but obviously was not. Carefully, she made her way over to the shelf alongside a lacey, stained curtain covered window. It was the shelf decorated in the multiple marionettes and hand puppets, too small to be hung on the walls and wooden shelves.

Her eyes widened at the fact one was gone. The spot was bare, only leaving dust behind. She turned to see if she could find the old woman. The woman wasn't there still. This left Sakura confused. She knew she shouldn't be looking too deeply into this, but with everything that had happened. Her feet began to carry her quickly to the door, so that she could leave the accursed place fast.

As her hand touched the door to push it open a loud crashing noise made the girl jump.

"Just leave…" Sakura whispered to herself, but curiosity got the better of her and she peered around the corner and she wished she hadn't. Tears she didn't know she had, spilled over her cheeks and she ran. Pink hair whipped violently as she sped off as quickly as her feet could carry her.

Sitting on the little pedestal, was a bloody haired marionette with his little blade pointed high, as if he hadn't been missing only minutes before. He looked completely untouched.

Crazy? Was she crazy? Could she have finally cracked? On top of dreams and sleepwalking, should she add hysteria and hallucinating to the list? So many questions, so little answers. Wait, the therapist…would he be able to help? Maybe Sasuke was right and that she should see him and get things off her mind. It would help since her mental breakdown this morning and another one followed after her unnatural encounter at the shop.

Of course, most would tell her she was crazy to think she could go back to Orochimaru and come away without more damage than she had started with, but with him as her only resort, she went anyways. The door opened and she looked up into the tired eyes of a red headed woman with dull eyes. She wore a black and white beanie with a 'I "heart" band' button attached and her lavender and black shirt showed off her love of flutes and music.

"I'll see you again later my dear Tayuya," the snake man watched as the girl dragged her feet and left the building with no words. His golden eyes shifted targets to the red clad woman sitting on a plastic chair reading an out of date magazine.

"My lovely Sakura, you came back to see me? You're fiancé called earlier this morning to say you would be in," Sakura's heart pulled, hearing this man talk of Sasuke. All she really wanted to do was find him and make up with him and apologize for being so stupid, but what if she had another breakdown?

Slowly, and cautiously, she pushed herself up and walked into his little office. It was the same. Nothing was out of the ordinary. So she seated herself on the small cushy couch, as she had the last time and looked up into the man's eyes. They were so hypnotizing. She felt herself slip into relaxation.

Sakura barely heard him ask her why she had come and how things were doing. Almost as if her body was being placed on auto pilot, she began to spew her dreams, her precious thoughts of the people only she knew. Everything she had come to know came out. Even of her new dream friends.

That felt weird to think about. She actually had made friends with the people in her dream. Maybe she was crazy.

She felt drowsy. Something was wrong she could hear him speaking, but couldn't make sense of his words. He seemed very distant, she wanted to call out to him, but she felt submerged in a pool of water, but at the same time in was like quicksand. Some unknown force was holding her still. It made her feel warm and fuzzy, but at the same time frightened her.

Her mouth was still moving, but she couldn't even hear what she was saying anymore. You know that feeling you get when you're laying on a raft on the water, or when the dentist makes you lie back and numb up with a steady flow of the laughing gas? That's what Sakura felt. It was like she was swaying on gentle waters or floating around the room with a tingly feeling. The pink haired woman smiled and felt extremely tired.

Give in…she giggled softly at the foreign voice telling her to give in to the feeling. Give in…Give in…Give-

The feeling rushed away quicker than it had definitely come, and she felt like she was splashed with cold water. She looked around for what had woken her up, but what she saw she didn't like. The man was holding his head with a pained expression on his face. It didn't seem like any kind of pain either. He was fighting something that must have been truly awful for his usually pale white face was now turning red and purple.

Grunts escaped him as he seemed to be fighting with something. Against her better judgment, and more with her medical calling, she stepped forward to try and help, but a voice that belonged to anyone but herself and Orochimaru.

"Run!" it shouted. She snapped to reality and looked around for the voice, but she heard him yell again, so she heeded the advice and ran. The girl didn't stop until she reached home. Sakura was out of breath and pure exhaustion swept over her. She felt more drained than she had all day. What exactly had happened at that office? She didn't even have five minutes to think about it.

Her world went black and she fell to the floor from her exhausted state. Her body wholeheartedly accepted the sleep in needed to regain energy.

-Deidara-

The blonde stepped into his classroom and looked at the many familiar faces. Several people were ready to start working again. Some were young, eager students still in school, wanting to have fun with clay and stone, the rest were older and were trying to find outlets for their depression or just have fun again.

Today, he saw a usual group of students he got. For the most part, they were loud teenagers who came to make fun of his art or just play with the wet earth that Deidara practically worshipped. They typically made the potentially great art medium into dirty things that were never meant to be made and played with in that manner.

The group were sitting and smiling with their awful grins that Deidara was beginning to despise. He knew the only reason he didn't get them kicked out, was the fact that since he had nothing to live for, but his art, that he would take them out, with himself with a huge bang. People would remember it forever, wishing they had seen the massive explosion.

Yeah right, Deidara thought. He didn't have the guts to actually kill a bunch of stupid teens for being disrespectful towards his art. He'd rather have them here so he can use them as examples of what art should not look like, usually he referred to their faces.

The tall, larger boy, had his head shaved weirdly. He was one of the worst. There was a shorter one with dark hair pulled into a ponytail. He was always making inappropriate gestures at Deidara and calling him a woman, or misses.

There were twin boys, both with silvery blue hair and green lipstick. They were mean, but never really got out of hand. The final one was a girl. She had choppy red orange hair and always wore her beanie. She had once been the worst of the group. Imagining giant demons roaming the room and telling her to do awful things, most of which she did.

As ordered by the state, she was required to tell him that she had been diagnosed with a type of schizophrenia and was taking medicine and seeing a therapist for it. He noticed a huge decrease in her terrorizing. The girl would constantly look of in other directions, and sometimes even pass out in class.

He recalled asking her once if she was okay, but she replied saying she was and that she couldn't wait for the next class. Deidara had been truly taken aback by her comment. He never thought someone like her would ever say that.

She once again sat with her tired expression, with some form of sadness underlying in her eyes. It was nothing for Deidara to worry about so he started on a lesson of connecting two pieces of clay together using scoring and slip, a form of watery clay. In the middle of this lesson, Tayuya screamed out and fell to the floor holding her head. Her friends were immediately at her side. They questioned what was wrong a thousand times before the girl stopped with her actions and sat up,

She had been so tired and out of it a few moments ago, but now she was fully alert and confused, "What the…?" she looked her friends, "What are we doing here? I thought we were eating at that new pizza place…"

Kidoumaru gave her an odd look, "Where have you been? We ate there last week…"

Deidara groaned and looked at her small sculpture. Class had ended long ago, but he was a little reluctant to head home and be tortured by the silver haired devil. He reached out and absentmindedly grabbed a good sized piece of the tan wet earth and began pressing into it with his fingers.

A smile crossed the artists face as he felt the medium stick to his fingers and dig its way under his short nails. In most cases this would hurt, having the earth being under his nails, but for Deidara it was pure bliss. It let him know that his creativity was welcomed here.

His thumb pushed up and his pink swiped this piece and then as a final touch, he smoothed that. The man grinned at the small princess he had made. She was fashioned like a small hand puppet would look, with button eyes carved on her face and even detailed stitches made to look like she was being held together by actual thread.

She was so familiar, but something totally original, a smile crossed his face as he pulled out a small rolled up red firecracker. The crazed man placed it in her arms and set her down on a metal table and pulled out a little lighter and lit the fuse. Deidara turned on his heel and began to walk from the room stopping just to mutter a small sentence, "Art…Art is most definitely a bang, un…" as the words left him, the small newly fashioned sculpture exploded, splattering the walls with wet clay. He laughed and left the room.

_She awoke, and like everyday that week, she was sent to a class where she learned everything needed to know about being a princess and queen. In was boring, but she pressed on. Partially because she didn't want to disappoint her mother, but mostly because Sasori said there was nothing wrong with being a doll. She wanted to see him smile again, and to see him happy. _

_That afternoon was free for her. There were no tea parties to be had, nor fittings for new gowns she didn't need. There was only Sakura doing whatever she pleased, as long as Deidara accompanied her alongside Hidan. It was an unlikely pair to be guarding her, but Sasori was at his shop today, as he had been for the past few days. Deidara said he was working with the herbs he collected from his garden. Kakuzu was also busy doing some treasury dealings for Itachi._

_The two did not get along, so it left the young girl with a nice form of entertainment._

"_Dumb-ass sissy bitch," Hidan muttered._

"_Oh, like you're any better you pain loving freak, un," Deidara spat. These two were fighting over silly little things that did not matter. Sakura was far too content with sitting in the gardens to be bothered by such things. _

_A sweet smelling breeze flowed through her and filled her with peaceful thoughts, despite the bickering boys standing behind her. She opened her eyes too look up towards the sky. Light fluffy clouds were shining brightly. They made her feel bubbly inside, "Deidara, what do you think of the clouds?"_

_The man was obviously caught off guard by such an odd question, "I, uh…" he looked at them, "They're nice, I guess, un. I prefer more earthly things…"_

_Hidan laughed, "That's bullshit, you fly around on your creations all the time!"_

_Deidara shot him a look, "I do it because I have to, un!" he crossed his arms, "All that wind messed up my hair!"_

"_Lying girly Bitch-boy," the silver haired man growled lowly. His argument partner glared and stomped his foot._

_Hidan decided to take it too far and smacked Deidara upside the head with the blunt side of his scythe. The blonde yelped out, "That's it, un!" he pulled out a bit of his clay and used his magic to empower it. It flew, as it was shaped like a little bird, and tried to blow up the immortal man. Luckily the man dodged and laughed in his maniacal way. _

_The pink haired princess-to-be stood, before she got hurt, and slowly walked backwards away from the men. It was alarming that they would be in such an argument. She knew neither wanted blood, but it was probably best she not get involved. _

_If it wasn't bad enough her day was shaken by her good friends fighting, her day cascaded to worse, when she felt cold hands grab her and cover her mouth. Fear filled her and she felt herself go numb. After only a few seconds, a dark black bag was placed over her head. It smelled awful, like old sweat and blood. _

_She gagged and felt her body being roughly being carried by a tall man. The swaying she was doing being perched on some guys shoulder, was making her motion sick. So many thoughts rushed through her head. Why her? Was she really being kidnapped? Would someone come help her? Would Sasuke even care? Should she scream, or would they hurt her for it?_

_Now she began to resent her current training as a proper young lady, if she were taught like Deidara, Hidan or Sasori, she would be able to fight them off. _

_She had no idea how much time had passed, nor where she was going. The man carrying her had never said a word. Sakura was so confused. Finally she was dropped hard on her butt and her hands were quickly bound to opposite sides of each other. _

_The bag was removed. Light blinded her vision, but when she adjusted, she was there was a small group around her. The tall and large man, a shorter tanned man with several arms, a silvery haired man with another head attached to his neck and a tall thing red-orange haired girl. _

"_Jiroubou?" the girl looked at the large man, "Are you sure this is the prince's betrothed?"_

_The two headed man glared at her, "Of course she is! You don't think we can handle it?"_

_Sakura watched as they bickered. The girl crossed her arms, "I'm just saying, we were told she was heavily guarded, and you came back with no hair out of place…"_

_Jiroubou looked at her and smirked, "Her so called guards were too busy fighting each other to worry about fighting us." something about this group made Sakura fell sick._

"_Now, now, my little pets, don't frighten the poor girl," her emerald orbs darted to a small doorway where three men were walking in. The one who had spoken had long black hair, pale skin and slits for eyes. His smile made Sakura cringe._

_There was one boy behind him with glasses on his face and silver hair pulled back from his face. He stood next to a white haired man with red face decoration on his eyes and brow. He looked sickly and frail, but something told her he wasn't as weak as she would probably assume. _

_The tall snake like man walked up and reached a hand out and caressed her face. His hands smelled a sickly sweet, she recognized it from the day her father was buried. Her mother told her that smell was actually a liquid used to embalm the dead. _

_Sakura started coughing as the horridly sick smell invaded her senses. Pain erupted in her side, and she realized she was most likely bruised from the way she had been carried. The young girl felt absolutely awful and sick._

"_Well she is a cute one, is she not?" The man knelt before her, "My name is Orochimaru, and I'm going to be using you for the betterment of the kingdom," he stood and left with most of the group. The only remaining ones, were the sickly boy and the silver haired man. _

_The latter of the two knelt down and his hand began to glow. She felt panic rise in her chest, but a cool icy feeling hit her side. The pain was suddenly gone. She looked into his eyes and her smirked, "We need you to be pretty and perfect for your dear love, Sasuke," and with that he stood and left._

_And just like that, she was left alone. Here she was being used for who knows what. All she did know was that she was scared and needed help, and that Sasuke and his family were about to be under attack because of her foolishness._

_Tears escaped her eyes and she cried silently all night. She awoke sometime later, without a window she had no idea how long she'd been out. Her arms were sore from being pinned up against the wall for so long. Her fingers were ice cold and all she wanted was for them to be warm again. Her nose was dripping and she felt like she was becoming sick being trapped in this cold leaky basement._

_More tears fell and she felt horrible as she coughed. Silence once again filled the room after her coughing fit, minus the occasional sniffle. And if the oncoming cold wasn't enough, her stomach growled. Sakura knew she would need food and water soon._

_It was as if they had heard her thoughts because the white haired boy walked in with a glass and a plate. In the glass was water, which he helped her drink. The cool refreshing liquid soothed her coughing torn throat. _

"_My name is Kimimaro," he said softly. This surprised Sakura, he seemed to be the only semi nice one here._

"_Sakura," he voice croaked awkwardly. He smiled slightly and scooped up some of the stew in the bowl for her, "Don't worry," he said, "It's not as bad as it looks."_

_She opened her mouth and took in the stew. He was right, it wasn't what she was used to, but it was still pretty good. As she ate, Kimimaro told her how long she had been here, which had been two whole days already. Had she really been out that long or was time just being rude to her?_

_He also told her about his special magic that he had learned to use. The imprisoned girl cringed every time he mentioned a bone he could pull from his body, then being able to use it in battle. _

"_Doesn't it hurt?" she rasped through her swollen throat._

_The boy chuckled and shook his head, "It did when I first started, but I've grown used to it," he scraped up the rest of the stew with a bread and shoved it in her mouth, "Well, I have others to tend to, so I'll see you later," he stood and left._

_A sigh left her lips and she closed her eyes, hoping that Kimimaro would come back for a little while longer, or hell, even someone would come rescue soon. _

_That brought her back to a topic she didn't like to think about, but obviously had nothing more to think about since she had already contemplated everything else from 20 possible kids names as well and grandchildren and greats, to how much time Orochimaru spent in front of a mirror making his skin look like that, her bet was on six hours._

_She wondered if anyone was caring enough to rescue her yet. Orochimaru would probably kill her if they had flat out refused, so maybe all hope wasn't lost. _

_Again she awoke, this time for a far worse reason than hunger. The sick girl started to squirm and wiggle. She was in desperate need of a potty break. She didn't know if she should call for help or what. Sakura tried to hold it in, but she wasn't used to anything like that. _

_Tears spilled over her cheeks and she squealed loudly for help. She guessed she had been on guard duty or something because the girl ran in and looked around as if there was going to be an attack. When she saw nothing she looked at the squirming girl with anger, "What the hell is your problem?" she yelled._

_Sakura cried and told her what was wrong. A few awkward moments later, the girl was better and the red haired girl was embarrassed. _

_Who knows how much time had passed before she finally heard noises coming from outside. The girl screamed and a couple of the guys yelped in pain and horror. Blood seeped under the door and Sakura felt fear enter her more than ever. The smell of the crimson liquid hit her senses and she began coughing hard. _

_In hurt all throughout her throat and she groaned softly, waiting for her doom to come next. She watched shadows dance across the shiny red liquid. Voices quickly accompanied them. _

"_So you think you can just waltz in here and take her?" she knew the voice belonged to her captor. When he got no response the man continued, "I would love to hand her over, but you see, I have some business to take care of first…" his voice insinuated something Sakura didn't like. Either he was going to kill her or use her for some experiment or something. _

_This is when she began pulling hard at the ropes holding her against the wall. Sakura tried as hard as she could, but barely moved an inch. She growled, determined to escape before anyone out there could get her. Her mind reeled with ways she could get out. Beside her was a piece of the rope. Maybe if she could just…_

_The girl slipped her foot onto the rope and began kicking it away by dragging her foot over the thing. It slowly, but surely began pulling at the knot. The battle on the outside was heating up and soon would be over, and the victor would come in here and she didn't want that. _

_The knot fell away and her hand became free. She felt tears of happiness start to come to her eyes, but the pin haired girl knew she couldn't stop for a moment. She twisted her body and began pulling at the other rope. This one had been tied by the man with multiple arms, and was a very complicated knot. _

_She pulled, but her attempts went in vain. Soon all fighting ceased outside and she heard Orochimaru curse his vengeance and knew he was either dead or gone. Her time was up. She couldn't undo the knot so she would have to defend herself. _

_Sakura looked around with her free hand and found a long sharp rock and the door burst open, flooding the room with a ton of light. A black cloaked figure swept forwards and she began slashing wildly with the sharp stone. She heard the sickly sound of the rock cutting flesh and she opened her eyes to see the person was kneeling beside her staring at the small shallow gash in his chest. _

_Guilt washed over her, but she knew he was here for her, so she had to be ruthless, "Don't touch me or I'll…I'll…" she was at a loss for words, she never threatened anyone before, so how would you go about it?_

"_You'll do what?" the cool voice washed over her like a warm security blanket and tears streamed._

"_Sasori?" she cried out. The man pulled down his hood and smiled softly. She dropped her stone and tried to hug him but her other hand was still trapped. Sakura felt more tears rise, these were for her frustration. _

_The crimson haired man leaned over and sliced through the rope with a knife and picked her up off the floor. She instantly wrapped her arms around him and began sobbing. _

_Now, Sasori wasn't always one to comfort people when they cried, and the other night had been a fluke. He didn't think just sitting there would make someone feel better, nor did he think he could pull off something like that again. _

_But when he looked down and the tangled mess of pink hair and swollen puffy cheeks, he knew he would do anything to keep her safe, and he would do anything to make her smile. He wanted to see a beautiful smile on those rosy pink lips. Those perfect little petals…those cute…_

_Sakura's eyes widened and she felt the man's lips on her own. He softly massaged her lips with his own, making her feel warm inside. She pushed into the kiss with her own force. His arms wrapped around her and held her tiny fragile breakable frame. She gasped slightly and he took full advantage of that. His tongue explored her warm wet cavern and he enjoyed every moment of it. Until it dawned on him. _

_This beautiful, innocent, fragile, breakable creature was not his. She was going to marry the brother of the man who had supplied him with a job as well as a place for Deidara and him to live. He quickly pushed her away and turned so that he didn't have to look into her gorgeous pools of green._

_Sakura was dazed and confused. Sasori had stolen her first kiss. A deep blush spread across her cheeks and she touched the swollen lips, where his had been moments ago. The girl felt ashamed, but she wanted him to kiss her again, but he wasn't going to, was he? He wasn't even looking at her now._

"_Sakura," he said in a soft whisper, "please forgive me, I…I didn't mean you any disrespect…" she furrowed her brows._

_He didn't look at her again, but he did help her to escape the wretched building. Once outside, Sakura giggled happily at the fresh air and moonlight hitting her skin. She felt alive again. Then a cough erupted from her and she bent over coughing as hard as her body could manage. _

_Strong arms wrapped a huge black cloak around her. She looked up and smiled softly at the chocolate eyes hero, "Sasori…thank you…" his eyes warmed up and her pulled her close again, unable to stay away._

"_Let's get you home," he smiled, "Prince Sasuke will be wanting to see you," he was surprised at the tone he took, one that spelled disdain for his superior, but she didn't catch it, so he smiled and picked her up bridal style to carry her to where the group was meeting._

_Deidara looked up and smiled, "You finally made it back, un," Sasori nodded and set the girl down. She looked up at the blue eyed man. His visible eye was black and her had a busted lip and various other bruises and cute on him. _

"_What happened?" she squealed. He only laughed an pointed to Sasori._

_The read head glared, "I punished him for not protecting you." he looked up, "Hidan and Kakuzu aren't back yet?"_

_Deidara shook his head, "Nah, I figured they would've been back with you, un."_

"_No, they chased after Orochimaru while I rescued our little blossom." he patted the girl's head. _

_Sakura's mind kept wandering to the kiss she and one of her guardians shared. It was in fact all she could think of, that and his warm chocolate eyes, with deep blood red hair and beautiful smile. A blush spread across her face again and she squealed delightedly. He kissed her…he kissed her…_

She opened eyes and found herself being held down in Sasuke's arms. His tired eyes were full of worry, and when he saw she was awake he pulled her against him and whispered a few apologies for his behavior. Sakura didn't answer. He pulled her even closer and covered his lips with hers.

And that was it…she felt nothing anymore. This kiss felt…well, ordinary. Was it because the kiss she had in her dream was so amazing? Why? She shook her head and turned on the TV, further driving a wedge between her and her fiancé.

He sat up, but didn't let go and they both looked up in horror at the news story being covered.

"Yes, and in further news, a therapist was found dead in his office today. Cause of death is poison." the woman said.

"Poison, is that right," her anchor partner spoke.

She nodded, "That's right, apparently he was attacked during one of his sessions, we have a few leads, but police are still investigating for clues-"

Sasuke turned it off and looked down. He had seen his Sakura's therapist's death story on the news, and the man had been killed. He looked at Sakura, who's face was wide in terror.

He was just about to ask if she knew anything, when a loud knock came from the door. 'Who would be here at this late at night,' Sasuke thought.

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><p>Ok, Soooo what did you guys think? Please review :3<p>

Ah also, Have any of you guys read a story called the necklace? its a deisaku story that was like, 9 chapters long . lol

Lady Pyrien


	7. Of Drunken Madness and Hidan's Demise

Welcome back to the newest chapter. I honestly don't know what to say about the beginning of the chapter but the second half turned out exactly how I wanted it ^_^

Please read and review, it would make me happy!

**Please vote on the poll for the next stories pairing ^_^**

**another noter...this is the longest chapter yet at 7,888 words without the authors notes O.\)**

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><p><strong>The Marionette<strong>

**Chapter Seven: Of Drunken Madness and Hidan's demise**

She felt the dried tears on her face. Sitting across the table from her was one of her old good friends in high school. He wasn't here to be her friend, though. Now he was the detective trying to get to the bottom of her therapist's strange death. Of course, she was number one on the list because she last the last to see him alive and she was a medic, meaning she knew poisons to a certain extent as well as antidotes and things.

Sakura couldn't believe this was happening. First, she had weird dreams, then sleepwalking, now she was being accused of murder. Shikamaru was the states best detective, just because he was able to seek out hints and clues no one else caught. He was smart and always had been. He would truly be the best in the world had it not been for his laziness. With his job came duties her refused to carry out because it was 'too troublesome'.

Her eyes met his and he glared slightly, "We need you to tell us what happened, I hate seeing you like this Sakura…" he looked away and scratched his head, "You were such a nice person in high school, I just can't see you killing some man…"

Fresh tears spilled from her cheeks and rage built up inside her. She stood up and looked him directly in the eyes, "I told you what happened! I was sitting there spilling my every thought to some guy and then he freaks out. Some guy yelled for me to run so I did."

Shikamaru also stood, "So troublesome…" the door burst open to reveal a young blonde intern or secretary, "Hey, Nara," she dropped a set of papers on the table, "Her DNA doesn't match any of our samples, and her finger prints were negative as well," the woman had four ponytails and Sakura recognized her from high school as well. She was the elder sister to Naruto's good friend Gaara. She didn't know her very well, but she was thankful that she had come in and given such good news.

It was a few hours before things were finally settled and she was released back to Sasuke. The man's eyes were cold as usual, but held some new emotion she hadn't seen before. Was it a worry? Fear? Doubt? The last one made the young girl cringe. Did the Uchiha really regret asking her to marry him?

He wrapped his strong arms around her and she just relaxed into his arms. His hands brushed over her back. She smiled and whispered, "…Sasori…" her eyes snapped open.

"What did you say, babe?" Sasuke rocked her back and forth.

"I said Sasuke," she lied and smiled and he leaned down to kiss her. The Uchiha's lips pressed gently against hers and she opened her eyes lightly. Nothing. Nothing? Shouldn't she feel special because she was the only girl he would kiss like this for the rest of their lives?

This kiss was nothing like she remembered. She remembered him kissing her and sending her into the clouds. His kisses used to make her forget anything else had existed. They made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Now, they were just kisses, just touches, just empty.

Sasuke noticed her distance, but seemed determined to forget the fight previously had ever happened. In fact, come to think of it, he hadn't kept that promise. He didn't let her walk away, in fact her had told her that he grabbed her the moment he walked in and sat on the couch holding her still. Sakura was grateful that he hadn't let her run away.

"Come on, love," he smiled, "Let's get some breakfast." he smiled. The girl looked at the nearest clock and sighed. It was four in the morning. She had been in custody for well over three hours. Honestly, she didn't want food, but a little time to sit and maybe patch things up with Sasuke was wanted.

The diner they went to was mostly desolate, having only a few people scattered around sipping coffee. An older waitress came up to them and smiled, "Table for two?"

Sasuke nodded and the woman led them to a small booth. She took the drink orders for tea and black coffee. Sasuke reached over and grabbed his beloved's hands.

He had noticed something terribly wrong with her. She didn't return his kisses, nor would she even give him a passing glance anymore. These actions were becoming dangerous for her. His anger was rising and now the only man who knew what was wrong was dead. He put the cup of hot coffee to his lips and sipped up the bitter liquid. The warmth spread through him, letting him temporarily forget about the situation.

Calm, peace, these were things he liked. It also seemed that since Sakura was not at peace, neither was he, and in return his calm was destroyed. Right now though, he was calm and peaceful again, soothed. All of that went down the drain the moment the diner door's bell sounded.

The raven haired man turned to see that despite how ridiculously early it was, Naruto, Sai, Kiba, and Shino came waltzing in. Once they spotted the couple sitting down, Sasuke knew exactly why they were coming to a diner this time in the morning. They had been out partying.

If it wasn't enough that Kiba and Naruto smelled awful, like the alcohol, it was the way Naruto slurred a mess of words that may have been meant to be a sentence.

"Sasu…GAY!" he snickered into a fit of giggles at the remark or Sasuke's name, "Yurr mah besht friend…and things I want…you…you are my new kitty…"

The blonde laid his head on the raven's shoulder. Said man looked up at Sai and Shino with the scariest glare.

"Ino threw a party earlier and these two needed a designated driver," Shino explained matter of factly.

Sai looked over at Sakura, wondering if she had improved any from their last encounter. She still seemed distant, even though she was currently scolding Naruto for his behavior. The blonde responded to her by going a pale that rivaled the artist, then a sickly green. Sasuke immediately jumped up as the blonde emptied his contents all over the table.

Kiba burst out laughing and started taunting Naruto. Sasuke looked over to his love, but she was walking out of the diner. He ran after her and finally caught up to her just outside the doors. "Sakura?"

Her emerald orbs caught his and all he saw in them was deep pools of anger, confusion, hope, sadness, and Naruto…Naruto?

The Uchiha turned to see the drunken blonde smirking with his eyebrow raised, "Running off to have a little fun?" Sasuke felt a vein pop at the mere thought of what was going on in the other man's head.

"No, idiot, go back inside," he glared his famous Uchiha stare. As usual, Naruto was immune to the look that made most others run for cover.

"You know what Shawskay!" the Uzumaki yelled out, louder than he should. His blues eyes met the cold dark eyes of his best friend and stared hard, "You…you," he stumbled and wrapped his arms around the man tightly and snuggled him, "Oh, Hinata…you're sooo soft."

Sasuke growled and pushed Naruto off of him, he turned to find Sakura was already gone, "Damn idiot…she left!"

Said idiot's eyes widened, "But…but…" he quickly ran inside yelling about Hinata being gone, which , from the looks of it, sent both Shino and Kiba into a rage. Kiba's was a drunken rage, but Shino thought he had been serious.

A half hour, and one explanation, later, Sasuke was driving home. Sakura had walked the entire way in the early morning. This made the drive more tense. He knew creeps were out at this time of night and he wanted to make sure she was ok. Who knows what could happen to a pretty young woman out on these streets.

His coal eyes scanned the sidewalks, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but he didn't spot the familiar head of pink. 'She must be at home already,' he told himself pulling into the parking space. The lights were out still and the door was locked. She couldn't be in there…

The key slid and turned and he quietly opened the door. "Sakura?" his voice called out, slightly shakily. No one answered. He shut and re-locked the door and ran off to find his fiancé.

-Sakura-

The night/morning air whipped through her hair angrily. Being hauled into the police station had been one thing, but then having your friend, who was completely intoxicated, almost throw up all over you, then make sex jokes about you. She had drawn the line and went on towards home.

She looked up and saw the street name. The woman was almost home, but then again she was almost to Ino's as well. Would Ino still be awake? The boys had said she was partying. It wouldn't hurt.

Turning one the sidewalk, she headed to her best friend's apartment. It wasn't a long walk, and only a few minutes later, she was knocking gently on the door. A moment passed and Ino opened the door. From the looks of it, the girl wasn't drunk, which was a relief for Sakura.

"Hey, forehead," she greeted, "You okay?" The door swung open and she let the pink haired woman inside. Sakura smiled weakly and plopped down on the small sofa. Her friend walked into her kitchenette and came back with a tub of ice cream.

"Here, let's talk!" Ino set it down and both girls enjoyed a few minutes of sugary soft serve.

"I'm still having those dreams, Pig," Sakura finally said, placing her spoon down, "I'm still walking away from home every time, too…"

Ino moved the ice cream away and scooted closer to Sakura and wrapped her arms around her, "Have you found out why? I thought maybe a relaxing day would have fixed it…"

The distraught young woman shook her head and put her face in her hands, "We tried a doctor, we tried rest, we even went to see some voodoo spirit woman, who only told me I was cursed!"

Her pastel blue eyes stared at Sakura intensely, "Cursed? Really? What kinda crack job does she take you for, and what did the doctor say?"

The pink haired mess shrugged, "He was weird, didn't say much except that I should wear these bells in case," she held up her wrists to show her the Christmas bells tied to her with pink ribbon, "I feel like a cat. I mean, everywhere I go I make little jingly noises."

Ino reached out and patted her head, causing Sakura to glare and growl. The blonde woman laughed and pulled back, "Bad kitty…" Sakura smiled softly.

"So, that's lame," she poked at the bubble gum head's bells, "Tell me about these dreams?"

Emerald eyes turned away and found anything else interesting. She felt Ino's hand grab hers, "Forehead, I'm here for you, I'm not going to force you to tell me, but something tells me it's not good dreams…"

Sakura turned and shook her head, "No, no…they're great, but that's the problem…" She looked into the confused eyes of her friend, "They're wonderful and I find myself…never wanting to wake up. I have a great life here and I'm wishing I could be living in my dreams!" tears began to flow.

"I love it there. I have so many nice friends and Sasori is there…" She sobbed.

"Who?"

"I want to be here with Sasuke and you and Naruto, but I'm falling in love with the dream world…" Sakura laughed pathetically.

Ino took her into her arms, "I don't know what you've been dreaming about, but babe, you can't give up, okay?" she received a nod.

A few minutes of silence passed and both girls realized how tired each was. The blonde offered her room to the tired girl, who nodded softly. Sakura immediately crashed and the Yamanaka woman passed out on her couch.

-Sasuke-

He had searched and came up short along the streets. Ino had finally texted him telling him Sakura was staying at her place that night/morning. Sasuke sighed in relief at the thought of her being safe, but disliked the thought of going back to the empty apartment, so went to a bar Naruto and Kiba had mentioned wanting to go to.

The outside looked trashy. The sign, was blacked out over a few letters and he could barely make out the name 'Akatsuki's Place'. The name seemed familiar, but he had never been here. Inside was a different story. It was packed with people dancing and people drinking and even a smoking room on the other side. He slid around looking for the familiar blonde boy and dog loving friend, or even Shino and Sai.

He made his way to the bar, where Sai was sitting, sipping a cola. "Hey, Sai," the Uchiha man said. Dark, cold ink eyes met his own and the man they belonged to nodded, "Hello, Sasuke,"

Sasuke ordered some type of drink and sipped at it, "What are you guys doing here anyway? Weren't the idiot twins drunk enough as is?"

The artist shrugged and gave a fake smile, "Naruto likes to come here and dance after he drinks," he explained, "He usually doesn't drink too much when we come here, the owner won't let him. The man says the damage he causes is too much to repair or replace. Last time he busted two chairs and barstool went through the window."

The Uchiha sighed and sipped his drink, already feeling a light buzz going. He looked out to the dance floor and sure enough Naruto was dancing his drunk away. "Idiot…"

"What are you doing here?" Sai queried, "I didn't think you would ever pull that stick out of your ass long enough to ever go to a bar."

Sasuke growled at him and turned away, "Sakura is at Ino's, so I decided to come

Here instead of going back to the apartment…"

The ink black haired man nodded and took a long drink of his soda, "How is Ugly? Last time I saw her she was acting odd."

The fiancé of said Ugly glared at the name Sai had given her, but the glare had no effect, "She's…She's not doing so well," he sighed, "I hoped her going to see a therapist would help, but he was murdered last night and I don't know what to think anymore," he crossed his fingers in front of his face and leaned against them, "Sakura is also distancing herself from everyone…"

Art was the only thing in life Sai was sure about. Everything else came to his with confusing waves. After he had lost his twin brother when they were living in the orphanage, he was emotionally severed. The doctors had told him it was his mind protecting the boy from any further intense emotional pain. He didn't understand basic human emotions, such as Sasuke's love for Sakura. To Sai she was kind of annoying.

Sai had seen a major change in Sakura, but he hadn't noticed her distance. He never felt the bond in the first place. Naruto knew better than anyone the importance of bonds, didn't Sakura? It confused him that she would purposefully push these people she cared about away. Why would someone do that?

"I'm sorry to cut our conversation short, but I must be off," Sai rose and left a tip on the counter for the bartender.

Without the artist next to him, Sasuke once again felt strange. Sakura wasn't next to him, and even though he was in a bar, he felt alone. It wasn't a feeling he truly liked. He only put up with it because the people he usually became friends with were too loud and distracting.

-Hidan-

"Seriously?" he screeched, "You assface!" the silver haired man crossed his arms, "I thought you sold that place!"

Kakuzu looked at him with a dark glare, "I did, but I have to collect another payment."

Hidan dropped himself to the blonde artist's couch. He hated Kakuzu's old bar. It was their only source of income while lounging around. When they found Deidara, they were able to sell it to some group.

"Money is stupid! This is Stupid! You're a fucking ass if you think I'm ever going back there!"

"Back where, un?" Deidara walked out of his room and into the living room. His bright blue eyes pierced into Hidan's in a glare.

"None of your Jashin-damned business you fuck faced rock loving-" Kakuzu covered Hidan's mouth.

"We're going to my old establishment," he looked up through his face cover, "I need to collect a few things, and maybe sell off Hidan while I'm there…"

Deidara nodded and flopped into his little recliner chair, "I don't know if he'd sell for very much, un…"

Kakuzu chuckled, "You'd be surprised at how many girls freak when he puts on a small pair of underwear,"

Hidan yelped, "You fucking shit faced cock-sucking douche!" the Jashinist stood up, "I told you never to fucking speak of that again!"

The blonde's eyes widened and he covered his eyes, "Mental images, un!" Deidara shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts, "I've seen enough of him already! I don't need to picture him doing anything in those tiny ass things, un!"

The religious man turned, "Good, you fucking sicko, quit thinking of me!"

Kakuzu stood and put on his jacket, "Come on, Hidan, we must be off. You're welcome to come to, Deidara,"

Yells of his brain melting ended, "I guess…what exactly is this place, un?"

The tan skinned man explained about his old bar and Deidara shrugged, "I have nothing better to do until later, un".

Hidan walked in and smiled, "I missed this place!" his taller partner walked up, "You said you hated it…"

"Fucking stay out of my damn business!" Hidan yelled. His light pink-purple eyes caught sight of the bar and his jaw dropped, "Well, well, well, what do we fucking have here?"

Deidara looked in the direction and he frowned, "It's that damn Itachi's brother, un…"

"Wait, you know Itachi?" Kakuzu looked at him with narrowed eyes.

The blonde shrugged, "Sort of, we went to school together, but I hate him, un!" his arms crossed, "He's a jerk!"

Kakuzu sighed, "Of course…why didn't you tell us you knew him?"

A pale eyebrow raised, "You never asked, un…" his blue eyes shifted and he groaned. Hidan was walked towards the Uchiha with a smirk on his face. Both Kakuzu and Deidara rushed to stop him before he did anything reckless.

"So, if it isn't my favorite little Uchiha brat," Hidan purred into Sasuke's ear, "You think you're tough shit still?"

Sasuke looked up and scoffed turning back to his drink. This only pissed Hidan off, "Think you're all high and mighty?"

"Hidan leave Sasuke alone," Kakuzu stepped forward. The silver haired man's eyes darkened and turned towards the taller man and he flipped him off, "Fuck off, Kakuzu, I'm having a little fun fucking with the high and mighty fuck face."

Sasuke looked back at him, "I don't even know you, now leave me alone or else…"

The Jashinist laughed, "Or else what tough shit?" Kakuzu grabbed Hidan and started pulling him away. The man's screams filled the whole place, but somehow didn't disturb the bar goers.

"By the power of Jashin, I command you to vanish!" Hidan yelled before he was dragged into a back room.

"Let me go you fucking cock faced dickless piece of Jashin damned-" Kakuzu gagged him and stepped back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Mmmfff!"

"Here you are trying to start bar fights with Sasuke…" Kakuzu growled, "I don't care what he did to you, that isn't…I swear if you don't behave the rest of the night I **will **dismember your every body part and make you watch as I stuff them down a garbage disposal,"

Hidan glared are struggled against Kakuzu, but it was useless. He finally gave up. The older man let him go and walked out of the room. He was relieved to see the Uchiha was gone now. Hidan would get into less trouble that way.

The silver haired male grew bored quickly with no one there to bother, so made his way around the bar trying to find fun.

Deidara sat in the same place they had left him. He grew bored and wished he had just stayed at home to sculpt. He sighed softly and looked around again. He didn't find the thought of drunk girls being scantily dressed and rubbing all over him, just for their seven foot wrestler boyfriend to walk up asking for three ways, or if he was lucky, they would know he was a guy and threaten him. Neither option was pleasant and neither one was fun.

His blue eyes caught sight of the lime green ones of his 'roommate'. Kakuzu walked up and growled about Hidan being no more trouble for awhile. The covered man motioned for the bartender and asked to speak with the owner.

Deidara looked up to see a blue haired woman walking up. She had a paper rose in her hair, "Why, hello Mr. Kakuzu," she smiled lightly, "Yahiko and Nagato are in the upstairs office, follow me." She smiled.

"Thank you, Konan," Kakuzu muttered. They followed her up some stairs and into a small room. There were two men. One had bright orange spiky hair and piercing all throughout his face. The other was quiet with a deep red plum colored hair. It hung in his face and he was curled up in his chair.

"Well, Kakuzu!" The red head stood up, "Nice to see you again, isn't that right, Nagato?"

The other man nodded, "Yeah…"

Yahiko walked over to a safe and pulled out a package and handed it to Kakuzu, "It's all there, you can count it if you'd like," The pierced man spoke.

Deidara looked up at Kakuzu who nodded and went to count the money. He looked around the room.

Konan was playing with some paper, folding it up. Nagato was reading and Yahiko was talking about random things for the bar. The blonde thought it less than a bar, it was more like a club.

After the job was done and Deidara was thoroughly regretting going with them, they headed back down the stairs with Konan in tow. The thumping of the music's base hit Deidara and he grimaced at the song playing.

What was worse was the man on stage singing it at the top of his lungs, "…too sexy for my shirt," he pulled at the buttons of his shirt, "So sexy it hurts," The blonde screamed in horror seeing Hidan stripping on the small stage, built for the DJ.

Kakuzu growled and walked onto stage and grabbed the half naked man and began pulling him off. The silver haired man began laughing hysterically. The stitched man just continued pulling him towards the exit. Once outside, he threw Hidan against the wall, "What the hell is your problem?" he growled lowly, his voice dripping with danger.

"I got bored waiting for you and decided to make a little money," he pulled a small wad of ones and fives from his pants, "They fucking love me in there They freak, remember?" Hidan slipped the money into Kakuzu's face cover and started walking back towards Deidara's home.

The blonde walked out, "I'm going to need a big bar of eye wash, un…"

-Sakura-

Morning came and her head was pounding with a headache. Music blasted through the small apartment and Sakura glared at the closed door that would lead to her friend.

Sure enough, the blonde woman was dancing around her home cleaning to some song. She swung her hips as she picked up the plastic cups and empty food wrappers. "Ino-pig…really?"

Ino turned and laughed, "Sorry," she hit the stereo, turning it off, "I was just trying to clean up in here,"

The two girls spent the rest of the morning cleaning the house then going out for lunch.

"And then Kiba jumped on the table and…" Ino glared, "Are you even listening?"

Sakura looked up and nodded, "Kind of, I'm sort of wondering if Sasuke is ok…I disappeared last night, so he must be worried…"

"Nah, I sent him a text after you went to bed."

The pink haired girl nodded and took a bite of her soup, "Hey, Ino…You know just about everyone in the town and more, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"I was wondering if you knew a few people, like, um…Deidara. Do you know a Deidara?"

"I do," Sakura jumped and turned to see Sai walk up and sit, "Good afternoon Ugly, Ms. Beautiful."

Ino blushed, "Hi Sai." Sakura just grumbled about the nickname.

"You were inquiring about Deidara?" his cold eyes met Sakura's. She nodded.

"He works at the center with me, an art teacher teaching sculpture," The ink eyed man looked at his menu, "Do you know him?"

"In a way, I guess you could say that, what about a Zetsu or Hidan?" Sai shook his head.

"Zetsu? I know a pair of twins with that last name…" Ino murmured, "Dad hired them last year to help out at the shop." She sipped her tea, "I like one, but the other creeps me out, so I avoid them altogether."

Sakura grinned, they sounded just like the guys she knew. So far everyone existed in both worlds. Part of her wanted to meet them, another part feared that they wouldn't have an idea who she was, which was most likely. She could stand seeing Sasuke in both the real world and her dream, because their positions were the same. He was heir to a huge company and she was his little fiancé. Naruto was the son of the mayor and Hinata was his love.

Did she really want to meet the others here too? She shook her head and ate the rest of her food. The three talked idly about life and plans. Ino mentioned she was going to start planning Sakura's bachelorette party. That's when the bride-to-be's eyes shot open.

"P-party?"

"Yeah, you're getting married in…what?…three days?" Ino sipped her tea, "I need to plan the best sexy party ever." She squealed happily already planning everything, things that would make Sakura cringe.

The future wife of Sasuke Uchiha, that was what she was. She smiled lightly and looked up. Maybe life would return to normal then? Sakura sighed. She had long ago given that up. Her mind was diseased with some problem now, wasn't it?

Sai yawned lightly, probably still sleepy from having followed Naruto around all night. He stood, "I must be getting down to the center," he laid down some money to cover his charge, "I have class today."

Sakura looked at him, "D-do you think me and Ino can go?"

"What? I don't want to spend my day sitting in an art class," the pink haired girl shot her a glare, "I helped you clean, I just want to stop by and grab the painting I left there…"

"Uh," Sai scratched his cheek, "It's not there anymore…"

Fire seeped from the girl, "Why not? You never throw them out!"

The artist backed away uncomfortably, "I didn't throw it out, Deidara said he had friend who would want it, and I thought you didn't want it, so I let him have it…"

Sakura blushed lightly, "A friend of Deidara's?" was it someone she 'knew'? Sai nodded.

"I can ask for it back, if you really want it…" he offered. He watched the girl think it over and she finally nodded, "It's not really important, but I want to talk to Deidara."

The truth was, Sakura didn't know what she would say to the man, if it even was the same. She was beyond nervous. If Sasuke didn't know about the dreams, why would Deidara, or Zetsu or any of the others if they existed?

The classroom was half full, as always, and Sai was busy talking about his work. Sakura and Ino were sitting in a corner of the room laughing quietly as they doodled pictures of Neji and TenTen along with Naruto and Hinata. The blonde girl joked about how they looked more alien then human. Sakura agreed.

-Deidara-

He yawned and walked to the kitchen. Deidara would have to get to work soon and start teaching those ingrates how to push clay around. Nightmares haunted him all night about watching Hidan shake his ass on stage. It was enough to make a grown man cry.

The art teacher picked up his phone and saw a missed call and text from Sai. The text said 'bring the painting, she wants it back'. "Damn, un," he sighed and walked into the living room where Hidan was passed out on the couch. For the while he had been living with the man, he knew him to be a very light sleeper.

Sneaking quietly over him, he reached for the canvas and hoped he wouldn't wake the Jashinist. His arm stretched out and he bit his lip lightly. 'Almost, un…' he thought. He didn't notice the few strands of hair fall from his shoulder and rest in a waterfall of gold on Hidan's face.

Burgundy eyes popped open and saw through the gold tickling his nose, "Damn you sissy prick!" he pushed up on Deidara's side, causing the blonde to laugh when tickled and fall on Hidan.

This only further pissed the man off who shoved Deidara to the floor. He stood from the couch and stared down at the artist, who glared.

"What the fuck do you think your doing, fucking molesting me in my sleep…" the silver haired man scratched his bare chest and grabbed onto his pendant, "I will personally see Jashin torture you one day you fucking freak…What the hell were you laying on top of my for, anyway?"

Deidara stood and glared hard, "I don't have to tell you, un, and I wasn't on top of you!" He crossed his arms.

"If you don't tell me, I'll fucking gut your ass and leave you for dead," he grabbed a pocket knife from his pocket and flipped it out, "Or I'll cut your pretty little hair off and fucking superglue it to your ass,"

The blonde growled and reached over to grab the artwork, "Sai told me the girl wanted it back today…I was grabbing it when you woke up, un…"

Hidan nodded and put the knife away, "So, is she going to be at that center of yours?"

Deidara nodded and set the work down on the table, "Yeah, I'm taking it to her today at work, and if she's not there, Sai will give it to her, un."

He left to get ready. Wine colored eye rested against the painted work. He looked at the pink hair and smiled softly.

-Sakura-

Sai's first class was almost over and Ino had run off to find a vending machine for snacks. Exhaustion finally caught up with Sakura and she leaned against the wall in the corner. A yawn escaped her lips and she shut her eyes. Sleep soon came and she once again found herself in the place she honestly preferred to be.

_Sakura, for many days, had been locked away in the castle with only the group of guards and occasionally, Sasuke, for company. She was under watch while they hunted down Orochimaru and killed him. _

_On the outside, she seemed fine. She still smiled softly at them and talked with them, but they knew she was scared beyond scared about being taken again. She clung to Sasori afterwards, probably because he was the one to rescue her, but he seemed bent on ignoring her and trying to avoid her. _

_Deidara and Hidan saw something was up. "What the fuck is his problem? He ignored her wherever they go and she's being fucking hurt!"_

_The blonde nodded, "I think something's going on, un," _

_Sakura looked up at the crimson haired puppeteer walking down the hallway with her. He was the escort today. Her face burned thinking about the kiss they had shared. She had, on more than one occasion, tried asking him about it, but then he would have to go to his shop or remember something Itachi needed him to do. It upset her. _

_But now, he was stuck with her until the end of the day, and she wanted answers. "Sasori," she spoke lightly, "Why did you do it?"_

_Deidara and Hidan, who were trailing some way away, perked up at this, "What the…" they listened closer._

"_Do what, My Lady?" His voice leaked out in a flat tone._

"_You know… I just…" her face lit up crimson again and she began to squirm as they walked, "I just…"_

_He turned to her, "Lady Sakura, please, for my sake and your, forget about it." She looked into those chocolate eyes that burned, despite his voice being flat._

_She felt tears rise to her eyes for no reason at all, "But Sasori…" she gasped when he pulled her into his arms._

"_My lady, my job is to protect you, that is all," he whispered, "What happened was an accident. Nothing more." he released her and continued walking. _

_The princess-to-be nodded and wiped away her tears and continued to her next tea sitting with Mikoto. Deidara walked up, "Hello, you two, un,"_

_Sakura jumped and turned red, "H-hello, Deidara," she was embarrassed from being startled. She only jumped again when Hidan walked up._

"_So, we couldn't help but over hear you conversation," the immortal spoke. _

_Sasori growled and kept walking, "You really should mind your own business…" he looked back at them with ice in his eyes._

"_Well, un," the blonde grinned slyly, "Lady Sakura is the girl we were all assigned. We're here to make sure she doesn't get hurt, un," he wrapped his arm around the girl's shoulder, "Even if it's you making her cry…" _

_Hidan stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her, too, "Sasori, fucking tell us what's going on or I'll personally see your demise,"_

_The puppet master growled and started walking away, "Mind your own business."_

_Sakura flushed red and started walking, "I'm sorry, but Mikoto is expecting me in the sun room!" she quickly caught up with Sasori. _

_Hidan growled, "I'm going to find out what is going on…" _

"_Don't bother, I already know," The two turned to see their raven haired captain. Itachi walked up, "I have a bad feeling about the future of this kingdom, and she will be the cause of it's downfall."_

_The blonde looked in the direction she had disappeared, "What do you mean, un?"_

"_I had Konan do a paper reading on the girl, and her fate is more twisted than I care to explain to you two, but what I do know is she isn't meant to marry my brother," he closed his eyes and walked away. _

_The two stood and mulled over what he had said, "What the hell was that about? Damn creepy Uchiha freak, going and saying things like that. Doesn't he know it fucking annoys the shit out of me?" _

_Deidara listened to the rant and shook his head, he knew something was going on._

_Sasori stood by the window, mostly standing there looking out the window, but doing his job in protecting Sakura when she needed it. He couldn't get the girl off of his mind and it was driving him insane. She was driving him insane. That kiss had not been enough to satisfy this burning hunger her now had for her. _

_The man couldn't even look at Sasuke anymore. It angered him, knowing that man was the one who was going to have the blossom for his own. _

_Sakura was like a puppet master herself. She had the strings up on Sasori and had him dancing for her, but when he looked into her eyes, he didn't mind. She was so cute and innocent and it almost made up for the fact he even used the word cute. The girl saw him as something more than a magic using outcast, as most of the world did. Her eyes looked upon him in wonder and amazement. _

_The girl was amazing and he was falling hard. He knew that and it was becoming dangerous to be around her. Every passing moment that he watched those delicious lips move was another of pure torture. It was another moment he couldn't push his lips to hers and taste her sweet lips and claim her as his own._

_He looked at her and felt a pang hit him in the chest. Sasuke had just walked in and placed himself beside her. The prince smiled at her and she blushed lightly. Anger rose in Sasori but he didn't show it. He was too smart to let the royal family see him like that._

_Sakura giggled softly at a story Mikoto was sharing about the boys when they were younger. She glanced up at saw Sasori tense up. Then she realized it was because Sasuke had walked in to join them. _

"_Hello mother, Sakura," he seated himself and poured some tea, "It's a lovely day, today."_

_The future princess nodded, "It would be nice if I could go out and see for myself, has that awful man been capture yet?" She was honestly scared to death of being captured again. She trusted that Sasori would come to her rescue again, but she didn't want him in danger again._

_Her eyes looked up and saw the crimson haired man standing strait up and stiff. A blush crept onto her cheeks and she bit her lips. What she wouldn't give to kiss him again. He was her first kiss and it was wonderful, despite the predicament she had been in. it was that act that had made her feel like everything was going to be okay. Sasori made her feel that way. She felt safe with him. Even when they had not found a trace of the snake man anywhere._

-Deidara & Hidan-

Deidara walked down the halls of the recreation center. He was angry because Hidan was tailing behind him. The man insisted to learn about art, but Deidara knew better.

He turned and noticed Hidan playing with his pendant, "You know, I hate you Deidara, I always fucking have,"

The blonde growled, "You tell me that every day, un." He opened the door to his class room and settled down on his stool. He looked out to the class and began his lesson. Hidan, on the other hand, stepped into the halls and began sneaking around. The halls were mostly empty, only a few people were heading to yoga rooms and art rooms, some were probably headed to some type of sports rooms.

Hidan stuck out his tongue at the thought of running around in shorts with a bunch of sweaty men. Now if he could be placed in the girls basketball room, that would be another story. He laughed silently to himself.

"How the hell could you have lost her?" a female voice shouted. This peaked Hidan's interest and he walked towards the yelling.

"If I had known she sleepwalks when sleeping, I wouldn't have let her walk out," there was a raven haired pale faced man. Hidan recognized him as Sai. The other was a blonde named Ino.

"Well, she does and now she's gone!" she put her head in her hands, "Sasuke is going to kill me! And you! I'll kill you!"

'Sasuke?' Hidan raised his brow, "So you two must be talking about Sakura?" He walked up. Ino instantly got defensive.

"What did you do to her!"

Burgundy eyes widened and her doubled over in a cackling laughter, "Oh that's fucking hilarious! I would never hurt her!" he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" Ino growled.

"I'm Hidan, you bitch, now shut up." He turned and walked away.

"Hidan?" Ino turned to Sai, recognizing the name from earlier that afternoon.

-Sakura-

_Sasori walked up to her. She remained long after Mikoto and Sasuke left. She seemed lost in thought. He stepped closer to her and sat down. Her emerald eyes locked with his and she smiled, "Hello Sasori," she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder._

_He grinned and patted her hand. Her skin was soft and delicate. It was simply amazing._

_They sat in silence for a little while. Peaceful feeling filled the room and it was a nice change from Mikoto's stories and Sasuke's droning about his new fighting style. Sakura sat up strait and a deep dark blush spread across her face. She turned and her eyes locked onto her guardian's._

_Sasori's heart began to pound as she moved closer. What in the hell was she doing? _

'_What in the hell am I doing?' Sakura thought moving closer to Sasori. She could see the confusion in his eyes as she moved her nose to his. His breath was ragged against her and she felt her heart beating so fast, it felt like it would give out any minute. Sakura suddenly realized what she was doing and went to pull away, but his lips covered hers. _

_She was surprised he finished the job she had started, but she was pleased none the less. Her eyes closed and he slipped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. Sasori's lips felt amazing moving against hers and massaging hers. His scent attacked her senses leaving her even more defenseless. He smelled of fresh cut wood and paints. It was intoxicating for the girl._

"_Aha!" they pulled apart quickly and both sets of eyes landed on the silver haired male smirking, "I knew something was going on around here! I mean fuck, you couldn't tell me you were fucking courting her?"_

_Sakura blushed deeply and covered her face. The crimson haired puppeteer stood up, "Get out, Hidan," his voice was dangerously low. _

_Hidan stood his ground, "No, she's like a little sister to me now, and here you are fucking making out with her! Do you know how fucking dangerous that is for her? If Sasuke were to find out…"_

"_I know!" Sakura had never seen Sasori lose his temper, he was always cool and collected. She felt horrible for what she had started._

"_I know how dangerous it is…I don't want to hurt her, but…" he looked at the girl and his eyes filled hers with pure emotion._

"_But what, exactly?" they all turned to see a tall pale man. His raven locks were hiding his eyes, which no doubt held anger unfathomable by the three others. Sasuke had an aura of pure anger dripping from him._

_Hidan growled and Sasori felt fear, not for himself, but for the poor innocent girl he had dragged into this mess. She wouldn't be able to defend herself if the Uchiha flew off the handle, and she would probably be punished. _

_He lowered his gaze away from everyone, "I'll be leaving…"_

_The Uchiha glared and looked up with fire in his eyes, "Hidan, arrest him." The silver haired man raised his brow, "What do I fucking look like, your slave? I don't fucking take orders from you, nor do I fucking go against my group."_

_The prince growled and roared, alerting other guards, who came running in. Sasuke pointed to the two magic users, "Take them into custody, I want to see them die for their impudence." _

_Sasori gave Sakura an apologetic look and whispered, "I'm sorry," before running to the window and leaping out. Glass shattered and fell all around. Sakura screamed knowing this wasn't exactly the first floor. She watched in horror as guards were sent to find him and the other half were preoccupied with capturing a curse spewing Hidan. _

_How could this wonderful dream suddenly turn into a nightmare? How could she lose two of her closest friends, one who made her feel so free? _

_They hadn't caught Sasori. His shop was empty and Deidara was detained for questioning. Hidan was sentenced to the closest thing to death as possible. He was dismembered and each body part was locked away in a different cell. Kakuzu was sitting with Sakura in her room, along with Ino, her lady in waiting. _

_Ino was dragging a brush through Sakura's hair, "You're so lucky, milady," she whispered, "I wish I could marry a prince and be pampered…"_

_Sakura looked up and smiled warily, "You can have it…" Ino laughed like it was a joke, but Sakura had done a lot of thinking. _

_When she was with Sasuke, she was calm, but still. All of her moves had to be perfect, like a porcelain doll, made to brighten a room. With Sasori, she could laugh and be herself. And though she didn't know love, she knew she didn't just think of Sasori as a brother or friend._

_Sasuke was nice to her, but he was usually so formal and quiet. Sasori was quiet, but was always relaxed with her. _

_She felt tears roll down her cheeks. _

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself standing in the middle of town. She heard yelling from behind her and she turned. Sai, Ino and a man she recognized all too well were running towards her.

"Hidan?" She looked up and he smiled and hugged her. She felt tears flow, remembering the things that had just happened in her dream.

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><p>Sooo, tell me what you thought . lol<p>

BTW this story is down to maybe one or two more chapters. I warned that I didn't write very long stories lol, but i may have a one chapter epilogue uploaded before i start my next story.

SO please vote! if you cant vote Tell me int the review which akatsuki you would like to see Sakura with. I really want to start this story soon ^_^

Lady Pyrien, who stayed up all night again to give you the longest chapter yet ^_^


	8. Of Death and New Life

Welcome to the last chapter of The Marionette. This story has been a ton of fun to write. The story had its small twists and turns, but nothing is as great as my grand finale! So please read and Enjoy!

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><p><strong><span>The Marionette<span>**

**Chapter Eight: Of Death and New Life**

"What do you mean she just went with them?" The Uchiha had never been more angry than he was right now. Apparently his fiancé, soon to be wife, was parading around town with some man claiming to be her brother.

To top it all off, her "brother" was the man whom had yelled at him in the bar the night prior. If it had been a cartoon, his face would surely be red and he would have the clichéd steam coming from his ears.

Sakura did not have a brother. He would have known about him.

"She seemed to know and trust him…" Ino offered. She was seated at the table in his dining room. The blonde's head was lowered, knowing she should have stopped Sakura from leaving with the foul mouthed man. Her friend seemed so sure of what she was doing. How was she supposed to know that Sakura didn't in fact have a brother. He could have been one of those guys locked away in the mental hospital at birth and just now released.

Ino shook her head. No. Something else was going on and that man who had whisked her best friend away was not related to her.

"I don't care if she knew him, I don't!" he hit the wall, "I have no idea where she is and we're getting married in two days!" Sasuke hit the wall again.

A noise came from the door and the two in the kitchen jumped up to see Sakura walk in happily. She had a bag in on of her hands and a doggie bag in the other.

"Hey, Sasuke, Ino," the woman casually walked into her room and set the first bag down and then took her food leftovers to the refrigerator.

"Where were you!" Sasuke walked up to her. She shrugged. His patience was slipping away.

"I was out to lunch with an very close old friend of mine," She smiled. Sakura started to make herself tea as she began her little afternoon story.

-earlier that day-

Sakura's eyes opened to the familiar pink-purple ones. Ones that had belonged to a man who was ripped apart at his seams and thrown away to rot. She had been terribly upset and clingy to the man she thought of as a brother in her dream world. Surprisingly to her, he didn't mind despite never having met her in this world before(though Sakura left his entire part out of her tale).

The girl watched as he told Sai and Ino to leave her alone and that he was her brother. She hiccupped and was taken aback again. How did he know her?

Hidan grabbed her hand and led her away, into the city. At first, he was acting weird. He was extremely different from the Hidan she knew. Instead of cursing, he was quiet and seemed uncomfortable when he talked.

The young medic would giggle at him and he would smile. He took her shopping for clothes and anything else she wanted, then lunch.

They sat down under an awning and ate as thundering clouds filled the sky. As she noticed before, dark weather was never seen in Konoha this time of year, but it made the air cool and silky against her skin.

Half way through the meal, the Hidan she knew cam spilling out when one of the bus boys accidentally tripped behind Sakura. He hadn't come near her, nor was he carrying anything but a pitcher of ice water. The water hit the ground and spilled, but none came near the pink haired girl.

The silver haired man stood up and began cursing and ranting about how he could have hurt the young girl. He threatened the poor waiter and yelled about wanting his meal for free because of the server's clumsiness. Inevitably they got their meal free. After lunch, he had become himself, at least the self she knew.

Conversation never let off of Sakura, though. He was constantly asking about her life. The man asked about her childhood, her friends, her love life. He laughed at her memories of going to school and meeting Naruto and his face darkened when she mentioned her fiancé. Sakura didn't know why this Hidan would dislike Sasuke. She did ask him about it, but he turned it back on her again.

"Sis, tell me how you even fucking met that fuck face," his eyes pinned hers. So she told him about meeting in school, then the masquerade.

He growled lowly, "Where was that fucking freak!" she barely heard him whisper.

The conversation once again turned to her and eventually they were back at her apartment, where he handed her a paper with three names written on it, along with three numbers

"Call us if you need us…" He left.

She hadn't looked at the paper, only stuffed it in her pocket and walked in, knowing Sasuke was going to pound her for information. She hadn't seen the man for nearly 24 hours.

The Uchiha looked at her with intense eyes, "Why didn't you tell me about him before?"

Sakura sighed, "I didn't think I would ever see him again."

The blonde woman stood and walked up to Sakura, "I'll see you tomorrow night, babe, Take care," she hugged her and left.

Sasuke stood and walked to her, "Any more old friends I should know about?" Sakura laughed, as if he was joking and kissed his cheek, "I'm going to go shower, I'll see you in a bit."

With that she walked to the bathroom with her bag of new clothes. When she came out, she was dressed in a crimson night gown with black lace edges. She had picked out the lovely little number, intent of feeling for her more dangerous side of her personality. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. His delicate blossom, his little pink china doll, was now parading around the house in some sexy short nightgown.

Sakura marched to the bedroom at sat down on her bed. She pulled a book out and began reading, intent of ignoring Sasuke's inevitable interrogation. Much to her pleasure, he didn't bother her at all. He laid down with a grump face and left her alone. His breath evened and she too laid down to sleep.

_Kisame stood sadly behind her, but four other guards surrounded them. Sasuke no longer trusted his brother's group. Zetsu had been demoted to a simple gardener, much to the elder Uchiha brother's anger. Kakuzu was constantly with Itachi. She was all alone now, with only Kisame and he wasn't allowed to speak to her. Anything he said would probably be turned against him and he too would be thrown in prison to await a death he did not deserve. _

_Sasuke refused to even look at Sakura anymore. She had become dead to him, but he knew she was now a prize to be kept. And keep her, he would. It hurt her. It hurt to lose everyone close to her. She lost Sasori, which killed her. Her eyes could no longer force tears to fall for him. The girl had no idea if he was alive, or if he had been killed. Maybe he had taken his own life. He always seemed the kind of man who would avoid being caught, even if it killed him._

_The thought of Sasori dying would have brought fresh tears, had they not been dried up. He had always been there for her. Watching over her, keeping her safe. He always knew what to say to make her feel better. How could she summon all of these feelings into anything she could describe? There seemed to be no way. _

_The shark man shifted his weight, sending the other four into attack stances. Sakura glared at them, making a few of them back down. Her thoughts moved back to the crimson haired puppeteer. If she could turn these into words, what would they be? _

_When he was around she felt light and feathery. She could definitely be herself around him. There was always a smile on her face, and she had been able to make him smile, too. He had kissed her several times, so he must have feeling for her, but what did she feel for him. _

_Her mind drifted to the kiss again and her lips began to tingle anew. Her stomach fluttered uneasily. She growled, Sasori would probably have been able to tell her why she felt this way. A sigh escaped her lips. Was it love? Could it possibly be the near impossible emotion? She should love Sasuke, but even before he imprisoned her friends, she never felt her stomach flop around like it did for her guardian._

_Another dark blush stained her cheeks and she giggled softly. This had to be love! Then pain struck again. She was in love with the wanted man. He was doomed to never be with her. If he came here, he would be killed. There was no way she could get away from here…or was there?_

_Sakura's emerald eyes met with her guards. They pleaded for him to find a way for them to escape, just for a little while. _

_He laughed loudly and brought his sword down quickly on his companions, knocking them out. Kisame picked up his little cherry blossom and smiled, "The things I do for you pinky," he put her on his back, "You know we're going to be in so much trouble for this…". _

_She nodded, "I have to find Sasori…" she whispered. There was no way she would find him. He was gone, but that didn't stop her from wanting to search for him. If she did find him…she froze. What would she do? She couldn't abandon her life…could she? Could she really drop Sasuke, her mother and everything else, everything her friends were dying for? No, they weren't dying for her. They were dying because of her. Because of her stupidity of falling for Sasori. _

_Kisame ran as fast as he possibly could down the long stone stairway. With each step, Sakura's heart pounded faster and faster. She could barely contain her excitement, as well as dread. If she were able to find Sasori, wouldn't Sasuke be able to as well?_

_When she looked up she saw a familiar face. It was that of Itachi. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. He was surely there to punish the only savior she had known the past days. Tears stung her emerald orbs and Sakura began to cry. Kisame halted, and silenced surrounded the three. _

_The Haruno girl couldn't take it, "Please! Itachi-nii, let me go see him!" tears flowed faster and her throat constricted, leaving her gasping painfully between each word, "I want to apologize, to let him know I don't hate him. I want him to know that I don't blame him and that I'm sorry for getting him into this mess…" the last of her words squeaked out and she crumbled into a sobbing mess. _

_The elder Uchiha walked over and chuckled lightly, "Oh, my little imouto," he kissed her head, "I'll deliver the message…"._

_Sakura looked at him through tear blurred eyes, "You know where he is?" She couldn't believe it. If Itachi knew where he was AND he was still safe, then Itachi was on her side._

_He nodded, "He's in a hiding place that me and Kakuzu have been watching over. At least, until I can smooth things over between this ordeal and my foolish little brother…" he picked her up into his arms, making her seem small and insignificant._

"_Thank you Itachi-nii," she whispered hoping he was telling the truth. He carried her back go her room, knowing the girl needed to sleep._

_The young woman was almost asleep, enough to fool the two watching over her, but not enough to block out what she heard. _

"_Kisame, you know those guards are going to report you…you'll be sitting in the cell across from Hidan and Deidara…"._

"_I know, kid," Kisame's gruff reply came, "But she was desperate and seeing the hope that she had lost…well…let's say she could stop the world still if she hoped hard enough…" the shark man laughed._

_Itachi grunted in agreement and slipped the covers farther up on the girl, "Sleep well Imouto, it may be your last night of decent sleep…"_

_As much as Sakura wanted to stay awake and inquire what he meant, she couldn't. Darkness swelled in her and she was soon fast asleep. _

Sakura opened her eyes, expecting to see thick Uchiha crested curtains, but instead she awoke to the downtown coffee shop. Sasuke was standing in front of her with worry in his eyes as well as his breath being gone.

"Sakura…" he huffed.

She only smiled in return, "Sasuke, I want to go home…" He nodded and led her back to the apratment. His fiancée was in danger if he didn't act fast. She was supposed to be walking the isle in less than 24 hours and she kept walking away in her sleep.

Maybe this was some sort of version of cold feet. Maybe it was her subconscious telling her that she didn't really want this, or that she thought she couldn't handle it.

He grabbed her hand, and for a split second he swore she flinched. This confused him to no end. About a week ago, this very girl was dying to be beside him at all costs, now she wouldn't even look him in the eyes. He wanted his Sakura back. He wanted the Sakura who basically worshipped the ground he walked on. Where had she gone?

As the day passed, things only got worse. He was planning on sitting down and having a long passed due heart to heart with the bride-to-be, but then Naruto showed up around noon yelling for him to get ready for an epic party. Sakura ran into a similar problem when Ino showed up with a blindfold and tiara with the words 'bride-to-be, so give me drinks!' scrawled across the decoration.

They were not going to se each other until she showed up to the wedding, and he didn't even get to kiss her.

Sakura smiled softly at Ino, who pulled at her short pink hair, complaining that there wasn't much you could do for short hair. Then she sat through an hour of poking and prodding into a short dress and make up on her face.

"Man, forehead, you're so lucky!" Ino drawled, "You get to marry young, to a handsome, no, drop dead gorgeous hunk, with tons of cash to boot!"

The pink haired girl giggled softly, "You can have it…" the familiar words ran off her tongue. Ino laughed, "Are you sick or something? I remember fighting over who would get to pop the little Uchiha babies…part of me misses those days, you know? Back when I actually had a chance of Sasuke sweeping me off my feet and declaring his love for me, well, any man for that matter." she smiled.

"I don't get it…such a big forehead, and yet so many guys were all over you…Naruto, Lee, and then you had Sasuke…"

Sakura silently added Sasori to that list, and sadness overwhelmed her. He was just a dream, so why did she feel bad for him? Of course he kissed her sweetly in the dreams, but it wasn't as if he had ever existed. Hidan didn't know him in this world, and Itachi had never mentioned him. Kisame, the aquarium shop owner had never spoken of him either. So why did she feel the same pain that Dream Sakura did?

"Did you hear me, forehead?" Ino growled, "I asked if you wanted the high heels or the flats, either one goes with the dress, but you can go for sexy or comfort…"

Sakura laughed, "Flats, please."

Now she was confused, blindfolded and confused. Ino had insisted she wear the damned thing, so nothing would be spoiled. After a hundred declaration of Sakura's perfect and most awesome bachelorette party were going to be just that, perfect and awesome, she was finally led form the car into a quiet room.

Sakura couldn't tell if she was in a club, or maybe one of the girls' houses. Hinata would have been easily able to host a large and lavish party, something Ino had to have, but her father might not have allowed it.

When the blind fold was taken off she gasped. Huge decorations and giant pictures of Sakura and Sasuke were hung all over. A long buffet table lined a back wall, and big boxes of gifts were stacked mile high. She was definitely in a club, she could tell because the music started blaring and male strippers walked out to start serving the girls. One walked up and smiled. He was dressed in an open blue button up shirt, with black slacks. His chest was oiled, and his muscles were rippling.

"Can I offer you…_anything_…?" his implied meaning made Sakura inwardly gag, not that this man wasn't hot, it was that his eyes were blue and his hair was black. She shook her head and walked over to the buffet table. Small cups were placed out and a huge punch bowl was filled to the brim. The girl cautiously sipped at the drink and found it carbonated, but not spiked, something she wouldn't put passed Ino.

The rest of the girl seemed to be having a blast, with sexy half naked men dancing in their laps. Sakura sighed and sipped at her fifth glass of punch. She didn't really want to be here anymore. All she truly wanted to do was crawl under a rock until she died. The Haruno, soon Uchiha, couldn't stand the sight of her fiancé, all because of a dream. Her dream world had gone from happy to terrifyingly depressing. All her friends, in the dream, had been taken form her, and the one man who had ever made her feel that way, was not only just a dream, but in the dream, he was gone.

Ugh, she pushed off the wall and started for the bathroom. After she finished, she stood at the sink, washing her hands. Her eyes drifted up, to see cold, caring eyes stare back. A voice whispered into her ear, with intelligible words. She turned and was met with nothing but a stall door. The mirror held nothing now. Sakura shook her head and took a few calming breaths.

Hallucinating? Maybe Ino really had spiked the punch. She would have to rip that girl a new one! Sakura started marching for the door, but suddenly met a wave of dizziness. She should have been slightly buzzed, if that…she couldn't possibly be that drunk…

Stumbling closer to the door, her head began to throb, "ungh…" she gasped grabbed at it. What the hell did Ino put in that drink?

-Deidara-

He looked over the most recent disaster Hidan had caused. The Jashinist in question was sitting on top of the couch, bleeding profusely from all over. Kakuzu stood behind him laughing hard, knife in hand. Not just any knife, mind you, Deidara's best cutting knife. The same one he used to cut his good food.

"Why, un?" he questioned, "Why my good knife? I have about a thousand rusty clay knives that would hurt a lot if you used them instead, un…" this only sent Kakuzu into another rift of laughter.

Hidan stood up, "That's it! Fuck you Kakuzu, go eat a dick and die!" the silver haired man leapt from the bloody couch and tackled the dark skinned man. Kakuzu fell to the floor with a grunt. He glared, "I'll kill you for that, runt!"

Deidara knew better than to stop a fight between them, especially since he'd found out neither could really be injured by attacks like that. He took a few steps back and waited for them to stop.

"Ugh, you two fight like a married couple, is make up sex really that good, un?" he laughed.

Hidan jumped to his feet, "Wanna run that by me again you shit eating cock sucker?"

He raised his brow, when Deidara didn't respond. The boy keeled over and started gasping in pain. He grabbed at his head and started moaning in pain.

Kakuzu went to his side and smirked, "That sly devil…marked Deidara with his magic…what ever is going on, Deidara is linked to it…Possibly the others, too…"

-Sakura-

_Ino pulled at the dress and smiled brightly, "Today's the day, love,". Sakura hated the dress. It was too white and too restricting around her ribcage. The corset made her breast pop more than they ever should have and the ruffles didn't breath. Her lower half of the body, waist to feet, were dying in the heat. The lace sleeves were scratchy and she hated the way her hair had been pulled into a curly pony tail. _

_She also worried for Sasori. Itachi hadn't spoken a word of him at all and it left Sakura itching to run up to the man and shake the info from him. The bride took a deep calming breath and opened her eyes. As the minutes ticked by, she felt her stomach twist in knot after knot. If this kept up, she would be able to use her insides as a durable rope. _

_Only a few minutes until she walked. She felt more like she was walking to a guillotine rather than a marriage. Ino kept tapping away the sweat on her forehead. _

"_Calm down please," Ino scolded. Sakura couldn't. She started pacing back and forth. The blonde lady-in-waiting sighed, "I'll go get you some tea…" and with that, she left._

_Sakura paced to the door and leaned against it, only soon regretting that decision. Behind the thin wooden door, she could hear Sasuke's most trusted guards, Suigetsu and Juugo. _

"_I tell you after the wedding will be the best part of today…we finally located that red headed traitor…." the blue-silver haired boy muttered._

_Juugo grunted. _

"_I mean, he causes Sasuke all this trouble, tried to take the princess, and we finally get to rip him apart! To top it all off, Itachi had been hiding him right under our noses! Boy, is that man going to ripped up as well…"_

_Sakura couldn't breath, and not just because the corset was too tight. She had to find Itachi, or even Kakuzu! She ran as fast as her dainty feet could carry her through the secret halls. If Itachi wasn't in his study, then he was probably before the courts telling them about what was going on. _

_Her heart pounded and tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn't believe this was happeneing to her. Wasn't she supposed to just sit and look pretty and bear happy little babies for Sasuke? Wasn't she supposed to live carefree in a palace, where as long as she was quiet, she wouldn't be punished? Then why was all of this happening? Why was the world corroding beneath her feet?_

_Her eyes came across at least one sacredly familiar face. Kakuzu was standing in front of Itachi's study banging on the door, "Itachi, you had better let me in there or so help me…Jashin!…I will come in there and teach you a les-" He turned and his eyes widened at the girl, clearly striving for breath._

"_Milady? What are you doing here? You should be in your room! Or at the alter…" _

_Sakura sobbed, letting tears flow from her, leaving trails of black watery paint behind, "They…they're going to kill him…I have to see him…please…"_

_Kakuzu growled, "He's in the green house, just outside the castle walls…but please, for your sake, just turn back and go on living…" she had never seen Kakuzu this way, begging for her to run back to the life she dreaded. _

"_I have to tell him goodbye…" She kissed Kakuzu's cheek and darted off down the stairs. _

_Itachi opened the door, "You did good…as much as I hate lying to her…Sasuke would have her killed too…things are not going to end well my old friend…live these next few days as your last…" he pulled himself back in the study, only to sit by the window and pet the black crow he kept. _

_Sakura felt her legs go numb and her lungs burn. She dared not be caught…she knew Sasuke's guards would probably be crawling all over, but it was nothing Zetsu couldn't handle. _

"_Zetsu…please open up!" she banged on the small shed door._

_It opened to reveal a worn looking man shackled to the floor, "Sakura, milady…you came to visit us?"_

"_**I should be honored,**__" black Zetsu growled._

"_You know it's not her fault…"_

"_**You're right! It was that damned puppet boy's fault! He's why we're trapped here!**__"_

_Sakura felt tears slide again, "I need your help…I need to get outside with out being caught…"_

_Zetsu stared at her, as if thinking it over, "Any thing for you, milady," he pointed, to the best of his ability, to a small jar of silvery liquid, "One sip will take you wherever you need to go…but be warned, milady, you will be faint afterwards…"_

_Sakura hugged Zetsu, "Thank you…thank you so much…" she kissed both cheeks and grabbed the little jar. Once opened, a foul odor reached her, "What is this?"_

"_**It's a special brew made from the most rare plants, so don't be that way! You're lucky we even shared!**__"_

"_Be nice brother…she's thankful…"_

_Sakura sighed and closed her eyes before swallowing a mouthful. The thick sludge made its way down her throat, and she could feel the magic course through her veins. She smiled hoping the was it__**. **__"I want to go to…" she thought for a second. Would the greenhouse be too vague? Of course! She only had one shot, and it certainly couldn't be to some far off kingdom! "…To where Akasuna no Sasori is…"._

_She felt a whirl of the magic shoot around her. It swirled in her veins and she gasped feeling suddenly light headed. Once the ground stabled, she opened her eyes. There in front of her, was an old wooden door. She gasped feeling a sudden shoot of betrayal. This wasn't Zetsu's old green house. This was some rickety old shack down the street from Sasori's shop. _

_Suddenly she remember why she was here and tears once again gushed. She broke open the old door, and smiled, "Sasori?" _

_Her eyes widened in horror. The man was lying on the floor, surrounded by his puppets. She fell to her knees beside him and covered her mouth, in fear of screaming in agony. With her other hand she reached out and ran her fingers over the soft skin. _

_She instantly pulled away and began to sob. The skin was ice cold. He was dead, and had been for a long while. Sakura's hands covered her face and she sobbed violently, "Sasori!" she yelped, "Please don't be dead! Please come back to me…" She doubled over and rocked herself back and forth, just trying to become numb._

"_I didn't get to tell you…" she whispered though a painful breath, "I didn't get to tell you I was sorry…that it was my fault…I didn't get to tell you how much I love you!" she squeezed her eyes shut and laid there for a long time. Finally, when her mind, heart and body were cold and numb, she stood up. A sudden wave of dizziness caught her and she felt the darkness creep into her brain. _

"_Sakura!" she heard a distant voice yell. But it was too late, she had fainted. _

_Itachi was one of the men called to the scene. Where the lady Haruno had gone missing, they instantly sent out the search party. The Uchiha hadn't counted on her getting passed the front door, much less out the gates. He hadn't counted on Zetsu having any of that blasted magic either. It ruined everything, but in a sense. Fixed it all too. She had made it to her destination and had come across an awful scene. Sasori was already dead, having taken his own life with some weird poising of his. Itachi hated to see the good man go in such a way, but at least it was on his own terms and not by torturous ones that Sasuke would have used._

_The body was hauled off to be burned, and the puppets. Well, Itachi had to beg his father, on his hands and knees, that they be kept in a safe hold. His wish granted, he took the small collection of fighters and marionettes to his study. _

_The second shock for the entire kingdom, was that the Lady had, too, died. Itachi knew one of the side affects of that mixture to non magic users. She had fainted directly on top of one of Sasori's blades. If it hadn't killed her immediately, the poison that drenched it would have. The whole kingdom would mourn, but Sasuke already had a new bride picked out. It was some red headed girl from a small neighboring kingdom. _

_He disliked the girl. Not because she wasn't Sakura, but because her eyes were cold and greedy. She was a little devil and he missed his angel of a sister terribly._

_The next few months were hard. Kakuzu disappeared, after breaking Hidan's body and head out of the cell. Deidara had been executed along with Kisame and Zetsu. He mourned their loss, but never quit safeguarding his kingdom. His foolish brother may have ruled, but he was still its true protector._

_-_Sasuke-

He managed to sneak from Naruto, where Sakura was having her party thrown. As he pulled up, his eyes grew wide. Ino was talking to a police officer. He ran up, "What the hell is going on!"

The officer turned to him and smiled sadly. It was Itachi. Itachi had become a police officer at night duty, in order to transition after passing the company to Sasuke.

"Aniki…what's going on?" his voice cracked fearing the worst. Ino looked away shamefully.

Itachi sighed, "Sakura disappeared…We have squad cars all over the city, but there's no trace of her…"

Sasuke growled and racked his brain for clues or answers. He came up short, but one thing stuck out to him. The woman who said she was cursed to walk forever…"…The antique shop…"

"What?" Itachi looked at him.

"The antique shop! She must be there! That damned devil woman will pay…" He jumped in his car and shot off down the street. Itachi quickly followed after him. The ride to the shop seemed like an eternity and he hoped he wasn't too late. He had to save Sakura. Whatever that woman had done…she was going to suffer his wrath for it!

Sasuke pulled up to the curb and jumped out. He felt a crunch beneath his feet and a gasp escaped him when his eyes laid upon a small pink ribbon and now dented bell.

"That tears it!" he raced inside.

-Deidara-

Deidara walked up and saw yellow tape surrounding the building. He sighed and looked back at Hidan who looked down. Kakuzu looked angered. As they approached, they were stopped by an officer. The man looked at them with deep coal black eyes, "It's nice to see you again…" Itachi whispered.

Deidara nodded, "So what's this about, un…?" Hidan also wanted to know, but almost feared the answer.

"Our lady is dead…" he muttered.

Hidan screamed out and turned to punch Kakuzu, "We were too late, damnit!" He laid a thousand more punches to the man, "ALL THIS FUCKING TIME, AND WE STILL COULDN'T SAVE HER!" Kakuzu gripped his shoulder.

"Itachi…one last favor…please can we go inside…?" the stitched man pleaded.

Deidara bit his lip. As Sasori had once told him, so long ago, it was better to let go in your own way. He had to be sure she was gone. He had to…he didn't gain his memory back, in the most painful way, just to be told his precious lady was gone.

Itachi nodded, "Zetsu twins and Kisame are in there, but be warned so is my brother…" He lifted the tape.

Police covered nearly every inch of the shop, looking for clues of a struggle, of even murder. Deidara snatched one of the men's reports as her walked past and read over it. She was just found dead, no known causes, as of yet. An autopsy had been ordered. He glared. If it weren't official, he would have blown the place to bits. No one, but no one, had the right to cut her open.

And there she was. Her eyes closed gently, and a soft smile was on her face. It hit him. She knew she was going to die that night…

Hidan growled, "I recognize that look…it was the same one that puppet bastard had on his face when he was found!"

Deidara looked at him. He hadn't known of all that, being killed before Sasori had been found. He looked back at their princess. She was happy, even in her death. He laughed sadly, "Well this bombs, un…"

Kakuzu smirked, "I wouldn't be so sure…" He pointed up. The other two looked up and smiled.

"That fucking puppet bitch never…oh dear Jashin…when I get my hands on him…"

-Sasuke-

He growled. Lower than low. Anger coursed his veins as he looked up and saw those three shit for brain ass holes gawking at his Sakura. She had been killed. Didn't that silver haired freak consider her his sister? Then why the fuck was he smiling over her body. He wanted to tear them apart and see how they liked being dead, but the tall one stopped him from doing so. His hand raised and pointed to the window.

"That fucking puppet bitch never…oh dear Jashin…when I get my hands on him…" Sasuke heard the 'brother' say.

His gaze followed the line of sight and his eyes widened. On a small pedestal, in the light of the moon, sat a red haired marionette. Cold brown eyes pierced Sasuke's own, and felt like they were digging into the Uchiha boy's soul, scouring it and feeling every thought. He scowled. His eyes drifted to the side, ever so slightly and it was as if the world had blown up. Everything around him became silent. He couldn't hear his brother directing family out, and that they had identified the body. He couldn't help, but drag his feet, as Itachi began to pull him from the shop. He growled and the roared being pushed away.

With dainty pale hands, a pink haired marionette with bright and warm green eyes, held the other marionette's lovingly.

**The End**

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><p>So? What did you think? Were you suprised? Amazed? lol yea right XD I bet you all hate me don't you? Well, tough, that was the ending all along! HAHAHA lol<p>

This is loosely based on a true story, believe it or not! A man stepped on his daughter's doll house and after that night, he slept walked, farther and farther away. The therapist said to just use bells on him and they even went to see a voodoo woman. She freaked telling him he was cursed. They laughed it off and kept going on. ONe night, they joked around, sayingthat they should just tie him to the bed. He laughed it off and the next morning he was gone. The wife couldn't find him and the police were searching. Her daughter walked up and told her mom that daddy wasn't gone. She took her mom to the doll house where an exact replica of the father was lying in the bed, small bells and all. ^_^ my inspiration for this story! lol I did add and take away, of course. I felt it needed more ...awesome. lol

I hope you all enjoyed! I'll move my concern to Cirque now ^_^ Thank you to my faithful readers for being with me through this...short ride XD I wished I could've made it longer, but Theres only so many places you can make a person sleep walk XD.

Review and tell me what you thought!

Lady Pyrien


	9. Of New Beginnings

Please READ THIS NOTE:: OK, so not only do I think some of you misunderstood the ending, but it appears that not very many people were happy with the ending they thought they saw. So here's a short epilogue or new ending. This should clear up what I couldn't get across in the last chapter. Those of you who know Sasori at all should know what he had done XD

So read and enjoy. This actually opened it up for a sequal, so I might be writing one. MIGHT...i dunno . depends how you feel.

IF YOU LIKED THE WAY IT ENDED, then don't read or whatever...lol

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><p><strong>The Marionette<strong>

**Epilogue: Of New Beginnings**

"You, sir, are on my shit list right now," her voice carried through out the shop. He only smiled at her. When she looked at him, it was still full of love.

"You, ma'am, are cute when you're angry," he pressed his forehead to hers, "It's been a long time and I'm not letting you go now…never again."

A smile graced her lips and she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I wouldn't want it any other way…".

The door slammed and they looked up to see an old woman hobble in, "Did I interrupt?" she chuckled, "I brought the things you said you needed…"

He smiled and jumped off the table and ran over to the old woman, "Good…I can get to work then…"

The young woman spent the next several months watching her lover scrape away at the supplies. Half a year went by and he stepped back and admired the work.

"Not as pretty as the real thing…" he muttered sadly.

She only laughed at him, "Are you kidding me? I was never that gorgeous!" Feeling slightly better that she approved, he grabbed her and took her into his arms. His forehead rubbed against hers and he smiled softly at her.

"I don't have too much left in me, but the old lady will help us…"

The girl nodded and once again sat back and watched her lover and this time, the old woman, mess with the work. The old woman pulled another similar piece from the closet and the young woman gasped. He had been planning this for a long time, it seemed. She wasn't surprised. He had almost and eternity to work on this plan.

"Ok, my love," he walked up to her, "Are you ready?"

She nodded. If she had a heart, it would have been pumping 200 miles a minute. He grabbed her hand and helped her sit on the table. He caressed her face and kissed her gently. "Just close your eyes and relax…"

Fear rose in her, but she did as she was told. Her eyes slid closed and she chewed her lip. She felt an intense energy around her and she felt pulling at the small core in her chest. Suddenly she felt the world shift beneath her. She could no longer see, no matter how hard she willed her eyes to open.

Panic. That was her instinct reaction. She wanted to fling her arms and kick and scream, but she just couldn't.

_Just relax. _His smooth voice echoed in her mind and she felt at peace again. A calm feeling over came over her. She felt her control come over her body again, and she leaned against a wall. She felt slightly dizzy. She went to open her eyes, but her love's voice stopped her.

"Not yet," he whispered. A few minutes passed with the fluxing power beside her. To her, it was an eternity. Curiosity began to take over her and she had to physically will herself not to open her hands. Odd. Something felt off about her hands…

"Okay…" she felt him grab her hand and pull her up to standing. He wrapped his hands around her waist from behind, "You can look now."

Despite her deep curiosity, she felt fear rise. Slowly her eyes fluttered open, taking in her surroundings. She was face to face with a mirror. A long red dress covered her body and her soft short hair, was splayed around her face. Her lover was standing behind her nuzzling his face into her neck.

She felt it. She felt his touch. "What…what happened?" she turned to him. His eyes met hers and then he kissed her. She felt the motion, the intense burning it gave her.

"I made things as right as I could…"

Her eyes shifted to the table and eyes widened. A small lifeless body was laying on top of the table. She looked down at her hands. They weren't made of little pieces of wood strung together carefully, but actually looked like normal hands. Of course, she knew they weren't, because she watched the man holding her, working on it.

"Do you like?" he asked.

She also realized she was no longer only a foot tall, but now she was about 5'4".

"Oh…like it…I love it…I love you!" she wrapped her arms around his and nuzzled him. He chuckled and kissed her lovingly.

She may not be a human, but she wasn't a marionette anymore, either. She looked up into her lover's chocolate eyes and smiled as he caressed her soft pink hair and placed another kiss on her lips. This time, they would not be pulled apart.

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><p>Do you understand now? I hope you enjoyed this.<p>

Lady Pyrien


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